By Steve Vantreese
For The Associated Press

PADUCAH, Ky. - If the cottontail rabbit seems a little rushed, it could be because his life clock is running short.

The cottontail is on most every predator's grocery list. Add other harsh realities of life, and the rabbit's long-term prospects aren't good. Rabbits commonly have an annual mortality rate of 70 to 80 percent, meaning that seven or eight of every 10 don't reach their first birthday.

But a high reproductive rate - a short gestation period and multiple nestings during the long breeding season - provides lots of bunnies by which the population can endure the losses.

Rabbit numbers are high enough and the annual turnover is also so much that regulated hunting isn't a factor. Most rabbits bagged by hunters would perish by one cause or another anyway.

Kentucky's rabbit season opened in November and runs through Feb. 10 in 29 western counties and through Jan. 31 in the rest of the commonwealth. The daily bag limit is four, and the possession limit is eight.

SEE CINERGY IMPLOSION
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KENTUCKY
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INDIANA
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