LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Arizona wildlife officials have released 10 endangered black-footed ferrets in an attempt to rebuild the population at the state’s only active recovery site.
The Aubrey Valley/Double O Ranch area is less than three hours from Las Vegas, midway between Kingman and Flagstaff, just south of Interstate 40.
Biologists have studied the black-footed ferret population there through success — reaching a peak of 123 in 2012 — and decline over the past dozen years. Now they are trying again, using what they have learned in a series of studies, according to a news release from the Arizona Game & Fish Department (AZGFD).
“We couldn’t begin to re-establish this population without understanding the ferret die-off,” said Holly Hicks, AZGFD senior small mammal management specialist.
It turns out that a bacterial disease known as sylvatic plague was behind the die-off. But biologists couldn’t identify the problem because something new was happening. Sylvatic plague also infects ferrets’ main prey — Gunnison’s prairie dogs. But while the ferrets are extremely susceptible even to low levels of plague, the prairie dogs were surviving year-to-year.
A study that began in 2017 established that ferrets followed the prairie dog population. But when biologists changed their study in 2020 to focus on the prairie dogs, they discovered the continued presence of plague.
“Now we’re targeting the fleas that transmit plague between the prairie dogs and ferrets,” Hicks said. “We’re treating the prairie dogs with the same active ingredient that’s in dog and cat flea medicine.”
With the plague under control, biologists moved forward with plans for the re-introduction of the endangered ferrets. Officials said it was a years-long process, but they didn’t disclose precisely when the ferrets were re-introduced.
The 10 new ferrets were released, “each with a little chunk of prairie dog snack to send them on their way,” according to the AZGFD news release. The ferrets were vaccinated against plague and “chipped” with transponders just like the ones used in dogs and cats.
Officials said a “spotlighting event” at the end of October found four of the new ferrets were doing well. Ferret releases will continue for the next three years during both fall and spring, allowing biologists to collect data like prairie dog densities, seasonal patterns, and more. Biologists will also continue disease treatments and vaccinations.
Cloning breakthrough
A new breakthrough that could contribute to the black-footed ferret recovery was announced on Nov. 1. according to a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service news release.
In what was described as a historic event, scientists introduced a pair of 3-week-old kits (baby ferrets) — the first-ever offspring from a cloned ferret. A black-footed ferret named Antonia is the product of cloning. Antonia mated with Urchin, a 3-year-old black-footed ferret at the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.
Research partners cloned Antonia using tissue samples collected in 1988 from a black-footed ferret named Willa.
While the success is a step forward in improving the genetic diversity of the species, there are no plans to release the offspring into the wild, according to the news release.
Ferrets in Nevada
In addition to the recovery effort at Aubrey Valley in Arizona, there are ferret study sites established in eastern Colorado and in Montana.
While Nevada isn’t a hotbed of recovery efforts, it does hold a special place in what we know about North American ferrets.
A specimen that is 750,000 to 800,000 years old was recovered from Cathedral Cave in White Pine County. It represents one of the oldest black-footed ferrets ever recovered.
According to an article from Defenders of Wildlife, there were tens of thousands of black-footed ferrets in the U.S. before the 1800s. As settlers moved westward, prairie dogs were targeted for eradication, eliminating the primary food supply for ferrets. Farming and the arrival of diseases contributed to the decline.
Wild ferrets were declared extinct in 1979, and then a discovery occurred.
On Sept. 26, 1981, a dog caught a black-footed ferret near Meeteetse, Wyoming, southeast of Yellowstone National Park.
Recovery efforts are continuing and someday, ferrets might be back in business. That’s what you call a ferret population — not a herd (bison), a pride (lion), or an ostentation (peacock). It’s a business. An alternate spelling: busyness.
