Pictured here is a New England cottontail rabbit bred at the Queens Zoo in New York City and released into the Fort Foster Park in Kittery, Maine, on August 22, 2025. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW), USFWS staff and interns, a Maine Conservation Corps Steward and the park staff teamed up to release cottontail kits from the Queens Zoo as part of a restoration effort for these rabbits classified as Vulnerable by IUCN (The International Union for the Conservation of Nature) and Endangered in Maine. Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

Flushing, N.Y. – Oct. 2, 2025 – Queens Zoo has recently transferred 15 young New England cottontail rabbits to forests in Maine and Massachusetts to help prevent the extinction of the species.

Six of the kits were released into Fort Foster Park in Kittery, Maine, with four others released nearby into Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. These kits were released into the park by USFWS staff and interns, MDIFW staff, and a Maine Conservation Corps Steward. An additional five kits were released on Thacher Island off the coast of Rockport, MA.

Each kit received flea and tick medication to help with survival and microchips were implanted to help identify them if they are captured.

The breeding of the kits took place at the Queens Zoo in an off-exhibit area designed to support natural courtship and nesting behavior. Adult males and females were housed in specially constructed habitats that allow females to choose their mates and provide hay beds, nest boxes and quiet surroundings necessary to enhance breeding success.  The rabbits released August 22 were born from May to July at the zoo.  Zoo staff breed the rabbits with little or no interaction with humans to ensure the rabbits are not habituated to humans and can adjust when released to the wild. Since the restoration effort launch in 2016, the Queens Zoo’s program has contributed 145 rabbits to the New England cottontail conservation breeding program, playing an essential role in reversing the species’ decline.

The Queens Zoo has been a partner in the New England Cottontail Breeding Program since 2016, working to restore populations of this Vulnerable native rabbit. Kits born at the zoo have been released into carefully managed habitats in New England states, including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

“This release marks another important step in the ongoing recovery of the New England cottontail,” said Donna-Mae Butcher, Queens Zoo Assistant Curator of Animals. “By working together with our partners, we are helping to ensure that this native rabbit has a future.”

Added Nicole Schepis, a wild animal keeper primarily responsible for the rabbits at Queens Zoo: “Our effort to breed these rabbits to help ensure they don’t go extinct show the great value of zoos to the conservation of wildlife, especially for species facing extinction.”

New England cottontails have faced severe challenges in recent decades. Populations have declined dramatically due to the disappearance of the dense shrubland and forests they require, which have been lost to development and other factors. The species also faces competition from  the introduced eastern cottontail, which is more adaptable to more open fragmented woodland and grassland habitats and often outcompetes its native cousin.

Conserving the New England cottontail is critical for maintaining the health and balance of the region’s ecosystems and the habitate they require, which also support other native mammals, birds, and reptiles that rely on early succession forest habitats.

The Queens Zoo’s breeding program is part of a broad collaboration involving the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state wildlife agencies from New York and New England, universities, conservation organizations, private landowners, and hundreds of dedicated partners. The zoo will again breed the rabbits next year during their normal breeding season which is generally March - September but varies a bit across their range.

The New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) is the region’s only native cottontail rabbit. Once widespread, its range has shrunk by more than 80 percent since the 1960s. While similar in appearance to the more common eastern cottontail, DNA analysis is often required to distinguish between the two species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the New England cottontail as Vulnerable.

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 Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo
Open every day of the year, zoo hours are 10am to 5pm weekdays, and 10am – 5:30pm weekends, April through October, and 10am – 4:30pm daily, November through April. The Queens Zoo is located at 53-51 111th Street in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park in Queens. For further information, visit queenszoo.com.