| 2/1/2006 9:03:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | First wild born black-footed ferret found in Colorado
The Chinese calendar marks 2006 as the Year of the Dog, but biologists with the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) hope 2006 is the year of the ferret.
A 2005 count resulted in the first documented reproduction of wild ferrets in Colorado.
“Every ferret that has been released in Colorado has two chips that allow us to know where they were raised and released,” said biologist Pam Schnurr, who leads the DOW portion of this multi-agency ferret recovery effort. “The discovery of a ferret without a chip confirms that the ferret was born in the wild.”
Black-footed ferrets were once believed to be extinct, but a small wild population was discovered in southern Wyoming in the early 1980s.
That population of approximately 130 ferrets was studied extensively, but unfortunately canine distemper nearly wiped out the colony in the mid-80s.
To save the species, biologists rounded up the Wyoming ferrets, which were at that time probably the rarest mammals on earth.
Scientists undertook an incredible recovery effort. The last 18 black-footed ferrets began a captive breeding program led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Ferrets from this program have been released in several states, including northwest Colorado.
To date, 186 black-footed ferrets have been released in Colorado.
The latest discovery occurred in the broad, dusty landscape of the Wolf Creek Management Area, where prairie dog mounds and sagebrush cover the ground.
Prairie dogs are the main source of food for the meat-eating ferrets. The ferrets also reside in the prairie dog burrows.
Biologists monitor the ferret populations with extensive efforts each fall.
Spotlights are used because the ferrets are nocturnal and only emerge from their holes at night.
This past fall teams managed to confirm the presence of 13 ferrets, the most since the Colorado recovery effort began in 2001. Volunteers also spotted five additional ferrets, but they were unable to positively confirm the sightings. The biggest discovery by far was the female ferret that was found without any microchips, confirming reproduction in the wild.
“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,” said Schnurr.
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