What is the Oregon Zoo breeding program?
The Oregon Zoo breeding program is a program to breed and reproduce pygmy rabbits so that they can be reintroduced into the wild. It was started in 2003 and founded by Oregon Zoo in Washington. Most of the program was based on feeding the tiny rabbits and trying to teach them the survival skills that they would need once they were reintroduced to the wild. They were fed with sagebrush grown by the zoo in their green house and were bred in facilities full of artificial burrows to stimulate their actual environment in the wild and eliminate the risk of them building their burrows in an unstable area and risking collapse. Also, due to sagebrush destruction (see 'why are they endangered?' or 'feeding and characteristics.') pygmy rabbits began to divide which caused genetic damage, leading to susceptibility to disease. Despite this, the breeding program for the rabbits continued until spring in 2007 which was when they decided to reintroduce some 0f these rabbits back into the wild to see whether they could survive independently in the wild. However, many of these rabbits were killed by predators shortly after being released which led to them being recaptured and the program continuing. Below is footage of the release of the rabbits in 2007.
Crossbreeding of pygmy rabbits:
To try and prevent the rabbits being bred, to succumb to disease due to the genetic damage brought on from the isolation, the zoo began an experiment to crossbreed the pygmy rabbits with a subspecies of pygmy rabbits brought in from Idaho. Four of these female rabbits reproduced with four of the pure pygmy rabbits.The idea succeeded, and slowly, the genetic damage done to the pygmy rabbit's gene pool was repaired. This also lead to the pygmy rabbit's gene pool strengthening considerably, lessening the risk of such an event happening again, making it much easier for them to reproduce and at the same time increasing the strength of their immune systems. This has considerably benefited the breeding of these rabbits. There is a link attached below to a page which contains more information about this project.
http://www.oregonzoo.org/conserve/species-recovery-and-conservation/columbia-basin-pygmy-rabbits/oregon
http://www.oregonzoo.org/conserve/species-recovery-and-conservation/columbia-basin-pygmy-rabbits/oregon
Monitoring and Observation
By July 19 in 2012 the pygmy rabbit population at Oregon Zoo was deemed large enough to be set free into the wild. To make sure that the pygmy rabbits would adapt properly they were instead introduced into a a six acre fenced enclosure at Sagebrush Flats rather than the open wild. This will help experts to monitor them in their natural environments and help the species itself to adapt to it along with observing how their breeding program has affected the pygmy rabbit's innate survival instincts. The enclosure's fences are six to seven feet high with 12-18 inches of the fence buried below ground to help discourage predators from attempting to get in and prey on the pygmy rabbit. The fence is composed of welded wire and the habitat itself is full of sagebrush and built on soft, fertile soil to help the pygmy rabbits to sustain themselves. They will be monitored to make sure that they are living properly without any major disturbances and when it is made clear that they are under no threat, and then the program will be discontinued.