European rabbits aren’t originally from North America. The species comes from the Iberian Peninsula, and every population here traces back to escaped pets, farm stock, or small feral colonies rather than a native population. Illinois wildlife records don’t officially flag this group as nonindigenous, so the state’s own status note calls it native by default, but that’s more a data gap than a fact about its history.
Sightings are rare here. Only 10 records show up statewide between 2000 and 2026, with the most recent logged in February. Reports have turned up near Starved Rock State Park, along Upper Mississippi River refuge lands, and in northern Illinois forest preserves, places with the mix of open ground and cover a burrowing rabbit needs. What little seasonal pattern exists points to August as the busiest reporting month, though with numbers this small that’s a hint, not a rule.
Where a colony does take hold, it tends to stick to short grass near farms, parks, or old fence lines, since these rabbits dig connected warrens rather than living solo like a cottontail.
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