The Musquash Conservation Area, located in Londonderry, New Hampshire, is set to become a new protected habitat, ideal for the endangered New England cottontail rabbit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Often confused with the more common Eastern cottontail, a non-native species brought here by settlers in the early 1900s for the purpose of hunting, the native New England cottontail has poor eyesight and is more vulnerable to predators.

In recent decades, the state’s native rabbit range has declined around 85 percent, mainly due to development of wild lands and the maturation of existing forests.

Unlike their more adaptable (and more common) cousins, New England cottontails don’t like living on golf courses, lawns or active farmlands since they lack the dense brush needed for hiding.

In order to create a successful bunny habitat, the Conservation Commission would need to work with a forester to achieve those conservation goals, which would include clearing taller trees to create shrub lands, to build the ultimate rabbit paradise.

 

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120711/NEWS01/707129926

Happy Bunday.