Conservation Groups Sue Trump Administration to Protect World’s Smallest Bunnies

Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians today sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help secure Endangered Species Act protections for the pygmy rabbit – the world’s smallest rabbit species. The agency failed to meet a one-year legal deadline to determine whether to protect the pygmy rabbit, which faces increasing threats from grazing, wildfires, oil and gas development, invasive species, climate change, and loss of habitat across the West.

“Our petition presented clear and compelling evidence that the government should take a close look at the threats to the pygmy rabbit and its sagebrush habitats and make the decision about whether to give them the protections of the Endangered Species Act,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project. “Instead, the agency continues to rush through decisions to destroy pygmy rabbit habitat, authorize extractive uses without oversight, and ignore the plight of this little bunny.”

Conservation groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the pygmy rabbit under the Endangered Species Act in March 2023. The service determined in January 2024 that the petition presented “substantial scientific or commercial information” that listing may be warranted, which triggered a March 2024 deadline for a final listing determination. The service has failed to meet that deadline and now indicates that it does not anticipate completing the listing determination until fiscal year 2028, four years after the date required by law. Conservation groups are suing to ensure that the listing decision does not languish any further.

“The service has left the pygmy rabbit and the sagebrush habitat it relies on in limbo, allowing continued declines and habitat loss to grazing, drilling, wildfire, and invasive species,” said Joanna Zhang, endangered species advocate with WildEarth Guardians. “We’re going to court to make sure this tiny rabbit gets the protections the law promises before the sagebrush sea disappears while the agency stalls.”

Pygmy rabbits depend on deep soils and large areas of mature sagebrush to protect them from predators and for the majority of their diet. The rabbits are found in parts of Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Colorado, California, and Oregon. In addition to the threats noted above, the species is also newly impacted by rabbit hemorrhagic disease, a highly infectious and lethal virus first documented in Nevada in 2022.

“The service has acknowledged that Endangered Species Act protections for the pygmy rabbit may be warranted but has dragged its feet on its legal obligation to finalize a listing decision,” said Thomas Delehanty, senior attorney with Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountain Office. “Listing the pygmy rabbit will help ensure that the highly biodiverse sagebrush steppe receives much-needed protections as well.”

Earthjustice represents Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians in the lawsuit to protect the pygmy rabbit.