World's tiniest species of rabbit found in Idaho

Conservation organizations plan to sue the federal government for failing to decide whether tiny rabbits found in Idaho and neighboring states deserve endangered or threatened species protections, they said Wednesday.

In a letter sent to the Department of Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the groups — Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice — said the government failed to meet a decision deadline on pygmy rabbits. Earlier this year, the agencies responded to a March 2023 petition to list the rabbits under the Endangered Species Act and found listing could be warranted. 

The bunnies, which are the smallest rabbit species in the world and weigh less than 1 pound when fully grown, live in sagebrush steppe terrain in Idaho, its six neighboring states and California. The species’ scientific name, Brachylagus idahoensis, is a nod to its documentation in Central Idaho in the 1800s. 

The conservation groups said shrinking sagebrush habitat, worsening wildfires and confirmation of highly contagious rabbit hemorrhagic disease pose an existential threat to pygmy rabbits. A small Washington population of the species was given endangered species protections in 2007. 

According to the conservation groups’ letter, the Fish and Wildlife Service violated an Endangered Species Act rule that requires the agency to determine whether to list a species is warranted within a year of a petition. The conservation groups submitted their petition in March 2023.

Fish and Wildlife Service issued its 90-day findings on the petition, which found the rabbits could be eligible for protection, in January. After issuing its findings, the agency typically performs a status review on a species to assess the population, risk and other factors, and takes the status review into account to decide whether to protect a species. 

In a news release, officials with the conservation groups said the delay on issuing its decision puts the pygmy rabbits at risk. “We’re watching the slow-motion extinction of these adorable rabbits while the Fish and Wildlife Service drags its feet,” said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. 

Attorneys for the groups said they will sue the government if the Fish and Wildlife Service does not “promptly” issue a determination.