When rabbits quit reproducing...

...you know the world is coming to an end!

Last Male Purebred Rabbit Species Dies

EPHRATA, Wash. - The last male purebred Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit has died, leaving just two females in a captive breeding program created to try to save the endangered species from extinction.

The tiny rabbits are only found in Douglas County in north-central Washington. None are believed to exist in the wild, which means the two females — Lolo and Bryn — are the only known purebred pygmy rabbits left in existence.

Um, aren't rabbits supposed to be the most fertile living mammal or something? And even if they aren't, how will life on earth change with the death of one breed of rabbits?

Somehow I have a feeling that this guy and I aren't on the same page:

"This is a population that has existed since before the last Ice Age in Eastern Washington. The loss is something we can never calculate," said Jon Marvel, executive director of the Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project, which works to protect pygmy rabbit populations across the West. "Any time we lose a species it diminishes us all."

I guess I beg to differ.

And this proves that when humans intervene, they rarely succeed:

Biologists captured 16 rabbits in a remote area of Douglas County in 2001 to start the captive breeding program. The last of those rabbits, Ely, died March 30 at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, said Dave Hays, an endangered species biologist who oversees the program for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

16 captured and all of them died with just two offspring? Ouch. Pretty rough success rate.

And here's what's even worse. Apparently this particular breed of rabbit - though not hardy enough to reproduce itself - is so vital to the world that if only part of it can be saved, that's better than nothing!

"The whole reason for the inner-crossing was to make sure we kept that genetic line going," said Chris Warren, a biologist overseeing the pygmy rabbit recovery effort for the federal agency. "Right now, we want at least 75 percent Columbia Basin ancestry in those animals."

Are you serious?

And while I'd think even a private organization would be crazy to devote money to this when people all over the world are starving and in need, it's absolutely despicable and ludicrous and outrageous and preposterous and [insert adjective here...I could go on for a while] that we have a federal agency overseeing this.

Next time you file your taxes, thank Uncle Sam that we still have Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits. Well, 75% Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits anyway.

Good grief.