The black-footed ferret is one of the most endangered mammals in North America, becoming one of the first species protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Despite the protection, they were believed to have gone extinct by the late 1970s, but the discovery of a small population near Meeteetse, Wyoming, changed the game. Between 1986 and 1987, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captured all 18 remaining animals to begin captive breeding and species preservation.
Today, eight states and 50 partner agencies are involved in the species’ recovery and reintroduction, including the state of Colorado where the first natural reproduction was recorded at one of the state’s long-standing black-footed ferret reintroduction sites.
The ferrets were first reintroduced into the state back in 2001 at a site just north of Rangely, but that population collapsed in 2010 due to a plague outbreak. In 2021, work to release more of the animals began at CPW Commissioner Dallas May’s ranch in southeast Colorado.
Prairie dogs are a necessity for the survival of black-footed ferrets, both feeding on them and living in their burrows. Colorado Parks and Wildlife specifically seeks out sites with at least 1,500 acres of prairie dogs for black-footed ferret release. Each individual ferret needs around 30-35 acres of prairie dogs in order to raise their litter of kits.
“The majority of our black-tailed prairie dog population is found on private lands. So that really means if we’re going to do something sustainable for ferrets, we need projects on private lands. To have a landowner like Dallas May and his family recognize black-tailed prairie dogs are and should be a natural part of the ecosystem, that’s a very rare situation.” – Colorado Parks and Wildlife Terrestrial Biologist Jonathan Reitz
In order to help the population on the May Ranch, biologists distributed vaccines to prairie dogs around the 20,000 acre property, protecting them from the plague. The recently discovered evidence of natural reproduction is the first of its kind of one of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s black-footed ferret reintroduction sites. 15 more kits are set to be released on the site this November by CPW and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service staff.