an a lil good news...black footed ferrets

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Experts Say Black-Footed Ferrets Reproducing

 

February 01, 2006 — By Associated Press

DENVER — In an encouraging sign for the black-footed ferret, wildlife

officials say the animal is apparently reproducing across the West after nearing

extinction less than three decades ago.

 

A female ferret found in northwest Colorado last fall was identified as born in

the wild because she did not have one of the embedded microchips given to

animals released as part of reintroduction program, the Colorado Division of

Wildlife said Monday.

 

Once abundant across the West, ferrets began disappearing at the turn of the

last century because of disease and prairie dog eradication efforts. Wildlife

experts thought the ferret was extinct until a small group was found in northern

Wyoming in 1981.

 

To save the species, the last 18 ferrets were trapped between 1985 and 1987.

More than 2,000 captive-born ferrets have been released in six Western states.

That includes 186 in Colorado's Wolf Creek Management Area, which covers 43,000

acres in Rio Blanco and Moffat counties and was the site of last fall's

discovery.

 

Ferrets in part of the Coyote Basin study area, which is primarily in Utah, also

have reproduced in the wild, said Pam Schnurr, a wildlife biologist with the

Colorado agency in Grand Junction. She also said captive-born ferrets have begun

to reproduce in five other Western states where they have been reintroduced.

 

" Releasing ferrets is one thing, but getting the population to produce young is

the first critical step in creating a self-sustaining, black-footed ferret

population, " Schnurr said.

 

The animals are difficult to track because they are nocturnal and rarely come

above ground. Biologists monitor ferret populations each fall by using

spotlights to locate them, according to the DOW.

 

Last fall, federal biologists said they think black-footed ferrets released in

near the South Dakota Badlands are thriving, even though plague has been

discovered in some of the area's prairie dog populations.

 

Source: Associated Press