Scientists hunt for rabbit habitat -- with military-style drones

Scientists in Idaho will be flying military-style drone aircraft over the state's sagebrush sea, not in a bid to find terrorists but to help locate the best habitat for one of West's smallest mammals, the pygmy rabbit. The flights, overseen by University of Idaho, Boise State University and University of Florida scientists, are meant to help determine whether aerial shots from small, unmanned planes can effectively locate the best areas to reintroduce captive-bred pygmy rabbits into the wild. So far, a pygmy rabbit population in Washington state has been declared endangered under federal law, though some groups have sought broader protections elsewhere across the West through lawsuits. With the flights, scientists from the universities will be taking high-resolution digital shots, in color and infrared, over Bureau of Land Management property in Idaho's Lemhi County from June 27-29. This isn't the first time Forbey and other scientists have taken to the West's skies with drones in their pursuit of helping the rabbits, which are small enough to fit in the palm of a person's hand and have some peculiar habits that have hindered their survival, including the tendency for females to fight off potential male partners. Starting in 2011, she joined U.S. Geological Survey scientists flying drones over the Idaho desert near Shoshone, to the southwest of this year's target, in pursuit of more information about where these rabbits live. The rabbits' range, which historically covered portions of California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Washington, has been fragmented through development, agriculture and grazing...more

This rancher out west has learned in the last two weeks that the feds:

° Know who he has called and who has called him

° Know who he has emailed to and who has sent him email

° Know who he has texted and who has texted him

° Know which web sites he has visited

Then he hears this noise overhead.  Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its SuperFed! looking for wascally wabbit range.

Seriously, none of this is funny.  

Interior has 14 drones the last count I saw and there is no telling what they are doing with them.  

And did you see where Interior is blaming sequestration for long lines at the Grand Canyon and yet they have this drone dinero to chase rabbit habitat. 

Rabbits to the head of the line.