New Era in Ferret Reintroductions

black-footed ferret closeup

High Country News’s Goat blog says that things are looking up for black-footed ferret reintroductions. It says that safe harbor agreements and new approval from the Colorado state legislature have opened new vistas for the species, which was once widespread across the West and then, in 1979, was thought to be extinct.

If you don’t know the black-footed ferrets’ saga already, the Goat blog has a nice summary, plus all the reasons why having new places to inhabit in Colorado is a good thing. The reintroductions began in late October.

Read the High Country News Goat blog entry, here.

ferret release

Photos: Ferret close up and transport to reintro site, courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mountain-Prairie Region.

Revised Plan for Ferrets

black-footed ferret“The most feasible action that would benefit black-footed ferret recovery is to improve prairie dog conservation,” said Pete Gober, black-footed ferret recovery coordinator for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in a service press release. “If efforts are undertaken to more proactively manage existing prairie dog habitat for ferret recovery, all other threats to the species will be substantially less difficult to address. Down listing of the black-footed ferret could be accomplished in approximately 10 years if conservation actions continue at existing reintroduction sites and if additional reintroduction sites are established.”

The press release announced a draft of a revised recovery plan for the black-footed ferret.

You can read the USFWS press release here.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department release is here, in a newsletter. It’s the second article from the bottom.
Arizona has been a site of black-footed ferret recovery. Read a reporter’s first-hand account of an annual survey, here.More info on black-footed ferret recovery can be found here.

Photo: Black-footed Ferret. Credit: Kimberly Tamkun / USFWS

Revised Plan for Ferrets

black-footed ferret“The most feasible action that would benefit black-footed ferret recovery is to improve prairie dog conservation,” said Pete Gober, black-footed ferret recovery coordinator for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in a service press release. “If efforts are undertaken to more proactively manage existing prairie dog habitat for ferret recovery, all other threats to the species will be substantially less difficult to address. Down listing of the black-footed ferret could be accomplished in approximately 10 years if conservation actions continue at existing reintroduction sites and if additional reintroduction sites are established.”

The press release announced a draft of a revised recovery plan for the black-footed ferret.

You can read the USFWS press release here.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department release is here, in a newsletter. It’s the second article from the bottom.
Arizona has been a site of black-footed ferret recovery. Read a reporter’s first-hand account of an annual survey, here.More info on black-footed ferret recovery can be found here.

Photo: Black-footed Ferret. Credit: Kimberly Tamkun / USFWS