Have you heard of the black-footed ferret? These adorable yet ferocious creatures were once thought to be extinct and today they are on the federal endangered species list and there are only about 1,300 in the wild today. Here in Colorado, conservationists are hard at work helping to reintroduce them into our natural areas, and they are finding some success. The comeback story of this mammal will hopefully be a quite successful one ongoing – and so far, so good. Read on to learn more about black-footed ferrets in Colorado.

If you've ever seen a pet ferret before, black-footed ferrets look pretty much the same, except these critters are wild animals that live on the prairie.
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Black-footed ferrets were actually declared extinct in 1979, but then a wild population was discovered in Wyoming in 1981.
After that discovery, a captive breeding program by the US Fish and Wildlife Service led to 200 black-footed ferrets being released into the wild in eight states.
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Black-footed ferrets live in the prairie ecosystem. They are solitary animals except when breeding and raising young. They're nocturnal hunters.
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Male black-footed ferrets have a range of over 300 acres; females generally roam within a space of about 40 acres. As prairies have declined and have become developed, this has been a threat to the black-footed ferret.

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90% of the diet of black-footed ferrets is prairie dogs. As the prairie dog population has declined as the result of the decline of prairies, so has the population of black-footed ferrets.
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Everything in nature is dependent on everything else.
Black-footed ferrets primarily hunt prairie dogs at night while they are asleep in their burrows. Even though they weigh almost the same, a black-footed ferret can kill a prairie dog with ease, and then can move it and eat it, too.
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These tenacious hunters were first reintroduced in Colorado in 2001 at Wolf Creek, north of Rangely. Unfortunately, the reintroduced ferrets in that instance died from a plague outbreak.
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In 2013, 300 more were released to six sites on the Eastern Plains. More have been released since and conservationists have evidence that they are breeding in the wild with success!
There's still a long way to go before the black-footed ferret can be removed from the endangered species list, but their comeback is underway. Conservationists have high hopes for their future.
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We are so lucky to live in a state where the black-footed ferret is making a comeback! It’s amazing to think about the fact that there was a period during which it was believed that these critters were gone from our planet forever – and thank goodness that wasn’t actually the case. Hopefully there will be black-footed ferrets around for all eternity, and they will continue to breed in the wild with much success. This comeback story is heartwarming and hopeful for sure.

Going on a road trip to see the prairie in Colorado? Don’t forget to pack some snacks!

 

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