Alarmed by increasing deaths of a rare and protected species of rabbit in Japan's semi-tropical southern islands due to human negligence, the Environment Ministry's Naha Nature Conservation Office has declared a 'state of emergency' in the country.
According to the office, the number of
Amami black rabbits found dead has doubled from 57 in 2007 to 74 last year.
Most of the deaths have occurred after being hit by cars or killed by feral dogs and cats.
So far in 2009, at least 65 rabbits have been found dead and the conservation office fears that number will rise considerably as the year-end coincides with the rabbits' breeding season when they appear on roads more frequently.
The Amami rabbit is endemic to Amami-Oshima and Tokunoshima islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, which lie north of Okinawa, and it constitutes the sole species in a genus found nowhere else in the world.
The rabbit enjoys complete legal protection from hunting and capture.
In 1921, it became the first animal to be designated by the Japanese government as a natural monument, and in 1963 that was upgraded to special natural monument.
Regarded as a 'living fossil', the rabbit is seen as a living remnant that once lived on the Asian mainland.
Only a thousand are believed to remain where they are threatened by habitat loss, road construction and predation by mongooses introduced to control poisonous snakes.