Oregon Zoo leads pygmy rabbit breeding efforts.

The Washington pygmy rabbit is geographically separated from populations of other pygmy rabbits and critically endangered in Washington State. Only 40 individuals of this subspecies existed in the wild a few years ago, and that number has since declined. In an attempt to save the dwindling population from extinction, the AZA-accredited Oregon Zoo (www.oregonzoo.org) began a breeding program for the Washington pygmy rabbit, following the success of its Idaho pygmy rabbit breeding efforts in 2000. The Oregon Zoo in Portland and Washington State University in Pullman, most recently joined by AZA-accredited Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Eatonville, WA (www.nwtrek. org), have formed a recovery alliance and continue to maintain successful breeding programs for this critically endangered species.

The pygmy rabbit is the smallest rabbit in North America, measuring 9.2-11.6 inches in length and weighing approximately one pound when full grown. The rabbits dig their own burrows into loose dirt and depend on sagebrush for food. Their numbers continue to diminish mainly because of habitat loss from agricultural land use and wildfires.

In a disheartening turn of events, the last male purebred pygmy rabbit died in June of 2006 leaving just two purebred females to pass on the genes of this distinct population. The two breeding facilities will continue to integrate genes from the purebred rabbits with those from the closely related Idaho pygmy rabbit through a crossbreeding program. They hope to maintain a bloodline of 75 percent Washington pygmy rabbit and 25 percent Idaho pygmy rabbit. So far this approach has proven successful, with 17 new rabbits born at the Oregon Zoo between January and June of 2006. A release of rabbits back into the wild is planned for this fall and will mark another first for the program.