Help save our only native rabbits


Come to a training hosted by the Maine New England Cottontail Working Group and learn how to identify rabbit tracks, have fun with your family and friends, and contribute to an important conservation project! You will learn how to tell a New England cottontail from a snowshoe hare, look for rabbits tracks and other signs and collect pellets for DNA analysis.

Saturday, December 1, 9-11 AM, Community Room at Yarmouth Town Hall, 200 Main St, Yarmouth, ME 04096
or
Thursday, December 6, 9-11 AM, Community Room at Yarmouth Town Hall, 200 Main St, Yarmouth, ME 04096

A portion of the training will take place outdoors, so please dress appropriately! We recommend a warm coat, hat, gloves and sturdy, waterproof footwear. If you cannot attend either training but you still want to participate, contact us and we will try to figure something out.

New England cottontails, once common rabbits in Maine, are declining because they are losing their preferred habitat of thick, dense shrubs. Biologists are working across New England and eastern New York to protect, manage, and create new habitat for the rabbits and other wildlife that rely on young forests and shrublands. You can help, too! In Maine, communities north of Portland have historic records of cottontails, but recent survey results have not detected the animal.

Have you seen New England cottontails in Maine? As part of our survey effort, we are also interested in compiling any anecdotal reports of New England cottontails in the Greater Portland area. If you have seen or heard of any cottonails in your area, please contact us with the date of sighting, type of sighting (e.g. rabbit, track, or pellet), town, parcel (if known, or detailed drections to the site), landowner (if known), and type of habitat (if known, please provide a picture or as much detail as possible).