The New England cottontail was once a common rabbit in southern and coastal Maine, ranging from Kittery to Belfast. But the population has declined dramatically over the years due to habitat loss, as old fields reverted into forests and shrubland was developed into residential areas.
Maine stopped issuing licenses to hunt New England cottontails in 2004, and added it to the endangered species list in 2007. The rabbits' numbers have dropped to dangerously low levels in other New England states, like Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, too.
Now, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is asking the public to report sightings of the cottontail through an online portal on its website. The site includes an interactive map, where citizen scientists can zoom in to find the precise location of the sighting.
Cory Stearn is a small mammal biologist who has been working on cottontail restoration for the department of fisheries and wildlife for years. He says winter is a perfect time to track rabbits, because the snowshoe hare turns white in the winter, while the cottontail stays brown.
"We're interested in any reported possible cottontail sightings," he said. "Now, since hare should be white, is a pretty good time of year to if you get see a bunny hopping around and it's brown, chances are it's a cottontail. So we'd want to know about it."
Efforts to restore the cottontail, Maine’s only native true rabbit, have been ongoing for about a decade. Population numbers have increased somewhat in southern Maine, in coastal towns like Cape Elizabeth and Wells.
Recently, the number of sites where the rabbits have been spotted has doubled. But, the number of NE cottontails in all of Maine still hovers below 400 in total.
Stearn emphasized that the rabbits are an important part of Maine's natural history, and losing them would impact the local ecosystem.
"New England cottontails are New England's only native true rabbit," Stearn said. "So, they're an important legacy for New England East ecosystem. And, they are prey species for many, really, any predator on the landscape. So having them around is a healthy for Maine's ecosystem."
