Editing Amami rabbit (section)

===Threats===
Before 1921, hunting and trapping were another cause of decline in population numbers. In 1921, Japan declared the Amami rabbit a "natural monument" which prevented it from being hunted.<ref name=":2"/> Then in 1963, it was changed to a "special natural monument" which prevented it from being trapped as well.<ref name="Sugimura, K. 2000">{{cite journal |author=Sugimura, K. |author2=Sato, S. |author3=Yamado, F. |author4=Abe, S. |author5=Hirakawa, H. |author6=Handa, Y. |name-list-style=amp |year=2000 |title=Distribution and abundance of the Amami rabbit ''Pentalagus furnessi'' in the Amami and Tokuno Islands, Japan |journal=Oryx |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=198–206 |doi=10.1046/j.1365-3008.2000.00119.x |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Habitat destruction]], such as forest clearing for commercial logging, agriculture space, and residential areas, is the most detrimental activity on the distribution of these rabbits.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.livescience.com/28162-rabbits.html|title=Rabbits: Habits, Diet & Other Facts|work=Live Science|access-date=2017-06-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520070853/https://www.livescience.com/28162-rabbits.html|archive-date=2017-05-20}}</ref> Since they prefer a habitat of both mature and young forests, they do not thrive in only mature forests untouched by destruction, yet they do not thrive in newly growing forests alone, either.<ref name="Sugimura, K. 2000"/> There are plans to remove the current habitat for these rabbits for the construction of golf courses and resorts, which is allowed because it will not directly be killing the rabbit, just changing the environment where it dwells, which is legal even under the protection of the special natural monument status.<ref>{{cite journal|author =Gielen, D. |author2=Kurihara, R. |author3=Moriguchi, Y. |name-list-style=amp|year=2002|title= The Environmental Impacts of Japanese Tourism and Leisure|journal= Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy & Management |pages= 397–424|doi=10.1142/S146433320200111X|volume=4|issue=4}}</ref>

The Amami rabbit also faces huge threats from the invasive predators, being a major cause for the decline in population size.<ref name="iucn status 11 November 2021" /> On the island of Amami, the [[small Indian mongoose]] (''Urva auropunctata'') was released to control the population of a local venomous snake, and its numbers have increased dramatically.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Hays, W. |author2=Conant, S. |name-list-style=amp |year=2007 |title=Biology and Impacts of Pacific Island Invasive Species. 1. A Worldwide Review of Effects of the Small Indian Mongoose, ''Herpestes javanicus'' (Carnivora: Herpestidae) |url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/22595/1/vol61n1-3-16.pdf |journal=Pacific Science |volume=61 |pages=3–16 |doi=10.1353/psc.2007.0006 |s2cid=86338152 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10125/22595}}</ref> This mongoose, along with feral cats and dogs, are outpreying the Amami rabbit.<ref name="Sugimura, K. 2000"/> Feral cats and small Indian Mongooses proved to be a threat to not only Amami rabbits but several other endangered endemic species in the area such as the Amami jay.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Shionosaki | first1 = K. | last2 = Yamada | first2 = F. | last3 = Ishikawa | first3 = T. | last4 = Shibata | first4 = S. | year = 2015 | title = Feral cat diet and predation on endangered endemic mammals on a biodiversity hot spot (Amami–Ohshima island, japan) | journal = Wildlife Research | volume = 42 | issue = 4| pages = 343–352 | doi = 10.1071/WR14161 | s2cid = 84000778 }}</ref>