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Protect Pygmy Rabbits Before Sagebrush Habitat Vanishes
Final signature count: 9,091
9,091 signatures toward our 30,000 goal
Sponsor: The Animal Rescue Site
Pygmy rabbits depend on sagebrush to survive. Federal delays are leaving them exposed while their habitat disappears.
Pygmy rabbits are tiny sagebrush-dependent animals found across parts of the interior West. They rely on sagebrush for food, shelter, and survival, and they are one of the few rabbit species that dig their own burrows.
Conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May 2026 to force an overdue decision on whether the pygmy rabbit should receive Endangered Species Act protection.1 Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians first petitioned the agency to protect the species in March 2023. The Fish and Wildlife Service later found that protection may be warranted, but the agency missed the legal deadline for a final decision.1
Earthjustice says the agency now indicates it may not finish the listing determination until fiscal year 2028, four years after the date required by law.1
Sagebrush Habitat Is Disappearing
Pygmy rabbits need mature, connected sagebrush habitat. KUNR reported that the rabbit lives in sagebrush habitat across eight Western states: Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, California, Oregon, and Washington.3 Conservationists say that habitat is threatened by wildfire, invasive grasses, oil and gas development, grazing, and climate change.
WyoFile reported that when federal officials found listing may be warranted, the agency cited compound threats from fire, cheatgrass, and climate change.4 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife notes that pygmy rabbits are sagebrush obligates, depending on dense sagebrush stands for year-round food and shelter.5
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s own species profile lists the petition to protect the pygmy rabbit under the Endangered Species Act.2 The agency has enough information to know the decision matters. It must stop delaying.
Federal Delay Can Become Habitat Loss
Endangered Species Act deadlines exist because delay itself can harm species. While agencies wait, habitat can be drilled, grazed, burned, fragmented, converted, or invaded by cheatgrass. For a species tied so closely to one habitat type, every lost sagebrush stand matters.
Director Nesvik and Secretary Burgum should direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue the overdue finding by a binding deadline, use the best available science, and protect key sagebrush habitat from further loss while the review proceeds.
The world’s smallest rabbit should not be left in legal limbo while the sagebrush sea disappears around it.
Sign now to urge federal wildlife officials to issue the overdue pygmy rabbit protection decision and safeguard the sagebrush habitat this tiny species needs to survive.
