Efforts underway to save rare Appalachian cottontails from habitat loss, disease
HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Research is underway to protect a rare mountain rabbit that could be at risk from the loss of habitat and the threat of a deadly disease.
Wildlife leaders list Appalachian cottontails, which live in the high elevations, as vulnerable.
They want to find out if fewer spruce fir forests, the rabbit’s preferred habitat, is a factor and if that is contributing to overlap with the more prevalent Eastern cottontails, which they said could lead to competition, crossbreeding and disease transmission.
“When you’re talking about a population of a species, you want a high level of genetic diversity so that the species can be resilient genetically,” said Andrea Shipley, a mammologist with the NC Wildlife Resources Commission.
The NC Wildlife Resources Commission is organizing a study with Tangled Bank Conservation in Asheville to determine the impacts that could threaten the cottontails’ survival.
The study could include whether rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV2), a highly infectious virus, has arrived in the region.
The study results will help create management recommendations to conserve Appalachian cottontails, prevent crossbreeding between Eastern and Appalachian cottontails and reduce the risk of disease entering their populations.
