MISSOULA, MT – Two conservation organizations filed suit in federal district court against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over a delayed decision about whether the world’s smallest rabbit species qualifies for Endangered Species Act protections.

Just days before the 21st annual Endangered Species Day — celebrated nationwide on May 15 to recognize commitments to protect and restore imperiled wildlife — Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians filed their complaint in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon. The suit says that the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to issue a finding on a 2023 petition to list the pygmy rabbit, found in sagebrush habitat across the intermountain West including Montana, as threatened or endangered within the required 12-month period.

“Our petition presented clear and compelling evidence that the government should take a close look at the threats to the pygmy rabbit and its sagebrush habitats and make the decision about whether to give them the protections of the Endangered Species Act,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project. “Instead, the agency continues to rush through decisions to destroy pygmy rabbit habitat, authorize extractive uses without oversight, and ignore the plight of this little bunny.”

Pygmy rabbits are found in the Great Basin and intermountain West — comprising parts of Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Colorado, California and Oregon.

In Montana, pygmy rabbits are considered a “species of concern” by the state, due to risk of habitat loss from clearing sagebrush for agriculture, invasive grass species and disease. The rabbit is found in just a small section of the state, the southwestern corner near Dillon.

There is also a population of pygmy rabbits in the Columbia Basin in Washington State, which was listed as an endangered species in 2003.

The petition submitted to the federal government seeks to add protections to the rabbits’ populations in other states, where their habitat — areas of deep soil among tall, dense sagebrush and low tree cover — is at risk of loss due to increased wildfires, development and agricultural uses.

“These threats are often cumulative and mutually reinforcing,” the lawsuit states. “Grazing, vehicle traffic, and infrastructure increase disturbance and invasion risk, invasive annual grasses promote more frequent and intense fires, and repeated fires can convert sagebrush steppe to annual grassland—resulting in progressive loss of the mature, connected, big sagebrush habitat needed for pygmy rabbit survival and recovery.”

The rabbit is also newly impacted by rabbit hemorrhagic disease, a highly infectious and lethal virus first documented in Nevada in 2022, according to the organizations.

Giving pygmy rabbits ESA protections across more of their range would mean increased inter-agency consultation on federally-approved projects, increased habitat protections and mandatory recovery planning by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

“The service has acknowledged that Endangered Species Act protections for the pygmy rabbit may be warranted but has dragged its feet on its legal obligation to finalize a listing decision,” said Thomas Delehanty, senior attorney with EarthJustice’s Rocky Mountain Office. “Listing the pygmy rabbit will help ensure that the highly biodiverse sagebrush steppe receives much-needed protections as well.”

In 2023, the conservation organization submitted a petition to the federal government requesting ESA protections for the rabbit.

In January 2024, the Service issued a finding that the petition “presented substantial information” that listing the pygmy rabbit might be warranted. That finding triggered a 12-month period to issue another finding, but the Service has not issued one, now more than two years later.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare the Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to issue a 12-month listing determination, and compel the Service to issue their finding.

USFWS Director Brian Nesvik and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum are also named in the lawsuit.

EarthJustice is representing Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians in their suit.

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