The Lower Keys Marsh Rabbit's numbers are dwindling, as they fail to live up to their reproductive stereotype, to the imagined shame of their namesake Hugh Hefner.
Yes that's right. The same man that is known for dawdling in the playboy mansion with babes aplenty funded some research in the 1980s that ID'd a subspecies of rabbit that dwells in the Florida Keys. Hence its latin name Sylvilagus palustris hefneri.
The grey and white-tailed bunny was put on the endangered species list in 1990 but it's numbers have plummeted in recent years. In the past two years alone, its numbers have dropped by half.
But wildlife officials are going to trap stray and feral cats this week in a bid to boost the Hefbunnies numbers.
My college roommate was obsessed with Marsh Rabbits. Had videos of them swimming around and everything. They are pretty damned interesting creatures (though perhaps not worthy of such prominent real estate within the mind of an otherwise healthy 19 year old Theology major). This is an unfortunate tale (hmm, yours and mine).
Posted by: Kate | May 22, 2007 at 10:38 PM