For over 100,000 years, the pygmy rabbit has called Washington's shrub steppe "home." Yet 20 years ago, experts counted around a dozen left in the wild.
"It's our fault that they're not here anymore," said Jo Ann Wisniewski, a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Wisniewski is leading an effort to save pygmy rabbits from extinction.
Several years go, a semi-wild breeding program began near Quincy. Rabbits grow up beside fences and under netting to help boost survival.
Wednesday, biologists released about 30 rabbits onto land owned by The Nature Conservancy, one of their main partners.
The land they use to raise the rabbits is a large plot of shrub steppe north of Quincy that started as a young boy's vision.
"I was convinced I'd seen a pygmy rabbit when I was a child," Peter Lancaster said.
Lancaster grew up in Wenatchee, moved to Seattle, and then retired from Microsoft. After that, he devoted his free time to the endangered pygmy rabbits. He scoured the shrub steppe of central Washington looking for colonies.
Then one day 16 years ago, that childhood dream came true.
"I was on cloud nine. I'd been looking for two years and suddenly I saw a sign," Lancaster said. "I saw pellets on the ground."
WDFW confirmed that endangered pygmy rabbits lived there, but someone had recently bought the land and planned to sell it.
"I sort of had to step in to buy it. That's why I own this section," Lancaster said.
He bought nearly 1,000 acres. On the land is now a semi-wild breeding program for pygmy rabbits.
It's part of what's left of Washington's shrub steppe. Ranching, land conversion for activities like wheat farming, and development left less than 50% of the pygmy rabbit's habitat intact. Sagebrush is really all the tiny mammals eat.
When they disappeared, hawks and other larger predators did too.
This is the program's fourth summer release. The first year, they freed 100 rabbits. Last summer, the count was 830.
"We're feeling really optimistic right now," Wisniewski said. "It's pretty amazing. I think everybody's a little surprised."
She thanks the privately-owned land and over 100 volunteers for the program's success.
"It feels pretty good. Now I have new worries," Lancaster said. "There are so many rabbits."
