Fading to Black Footed Ferret -- Hayden Heacox

Fading to White: The Black Footed Ferret
Hayden Heacox

U.S. Fish & WildLife Services

This little one is known as a Mustela nigripes, otherwise called the "Black Footed Ferret". Unfortunately, through the destruction of habitat and prey, the number of these little critters has dropped so low that they are considered to be one of the most endangered mammal species in the entire world. 

At a size of just 19 to 24 inches long, and 1.4 to 2.5 pounds(1), their lives seem so minuscule to us- but, as people, our lives play a large role in their survival. Other characteristics are the black paws, tail tip, and "mask" across the face, and body color "yellowish buff" (1).

   

Black-footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team

In the image above, the area highlighted in green is the "historic range" of the Black Footed Ferret.

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National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center.

This particular species of ferret depends                            
 heavily on the life of its food source- the prairie dog. Typically, the three types of prairie dogs are the black-tailed prairie dog (C. ludovicianus), Gunnison’s prairie dog (C. gunnisoni), and the white-tailed prairie dog (C. leucurus)(1).
 Through the expansion of agriculture into

the Great Plains and the like, the habitat has been reduced and altered, along with the systematic poisoning of prairie dogs affecting their main food and shelter source, and exotic

 disease; reducing population.

The map above shows the spread of prairie dog populations, which matches that of the historic range of the Black Footed Ferret.

Over time, approximately 112 million acres of their historic range has been converted into agricultural land and 3.3 million lost to urbanization.(1) The effect of this land alteration has caused the fragmentation and loss of prairie dog and ferret habitat. Vast spends of agricultural land now separate "dog-towns" and the range of Black Footed Ferret territory is down to less than 2% of its historic value. Naturally, the location(s) of ferret population(s) is directly related to that of the prairie dog, which is their primary source of food and shelter- they take the burrows from prairie dogs as their own domain.

Since the early 1900's, prairie dogs have met the fate of poisoning by farmers in their homeland. By cutting down the population of this vital food source of the Black Footed Ferret, in order to reduce competition for food/foraging between prairie dogs and live-stock (1), the ferrets numbers began to reduce as the food supply fell.

                      

Disease such as sylvatic plague is the final major factor to the ferrets decline. The Canine distemper virus was believed to have affected the final wild population of ferrets in Meeteetse, Wyoming in the 80's, and also proved to be a hurdle for the initial reintroduction of the species in certain areas more recently.

Recovery Plan

The Black Footed Ferret has been listed as an endengered species since 1967, prior to the "Endangered Species Act" of 1973, where it was later added (1).

Black Footed Ferret.org

Current efforts are focused on captive breeding to repopulate the wild. The Black Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team says that the "SSP" (Species Survival Plan) consists of 6 facilities.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center (Colorado), National Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (VA), Louisville Zoological Garden (KY), Toronto Zoo(Ontario, Canada), Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (CO) and Phoenix Zoo (AZ). Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo participated in the Black Footed Ferret SSP® until the late 1990s.(Taken directly from their website). These facilities help to breed Black Footed Ferrets, in respect to their natural breeding times, and try to keep as much genetic diversity as possible when dealing with a closed community of animals.(2)

Number of BFF kits born at all captive breeding facilities from the beginning of the program through 2010. Taken from BlackFootedFerret.org

Reintroduction sites for the Black Footed Ferret taken from BlackFootedFerret.org

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has bred over 7,000 "kits" (baby ferrets) in captivity, and more than 2,600 have been reintroduced into their natural habitat (1) It has been considered that there are certain areas within the historical range that may be able to re-sustain populations of The Black Footed Ferret through repopulation of prairie dogs. These reintroduction sites span across the historic range, and attempt to seed the land for continued, natural population growth.



If you would like to find further information on this issue, please visit and take advantage of these websites devoted to the survival of the Black Footed Ferret:

INFO:
http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/blackfootedferret/

PLANS:
1) http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/blackfootedferret/BFF%20FO%20Fnl%20SHA%20102313.pdf

FACT SHEETS:

1) http://blackfootedferret.org/recovery-efforts/captive-breeding
2) http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/factsheets/Black-Footed-Ferret.pdf

FULL INFO AND RECOVERY PLANS:

1)http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/20131108%20BFF%202nd%20Rev.%20Final%20Recovery%20Plan.pdf




CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW TO HELP!

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(1) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
(2) Black Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team