Last year, I posted about the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s effort to reintroduce the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit back into their native habitat in Washington.

The program to breed the rabbits will most likely come to an end this year as there are no Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits left in the wild, and the last purebred rabbit died in captivity. According to Chris Warren, who runs the program, genetically speaking, Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits are now extinct.

In 2010, the US Fish and Wildlife Service will focus on introducing pygmy rabbits from Idaho into the area.

For more information: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_pygmy_rabbits.html