Photos by Stan Tekeila ©2004

Black-footed Ferret and Prairie Dogs

by Stan Tekiela
© 2003 NatureSmart
October 3, 2003

On a recent photographic adventure to the Buffalo Gap Nation Grasslands, I came to realize the value of a critter often said to have no value and to be enthralled by another critter that is complete dependant upon the worthless one-the Black-tailed Prairie Dog and the Black-footed Ferret. Two animals with intertwined lives.

We all have heard about the "balance of nature". Well, this is a story of returning some of the balance to nature. Before this countries vast grassland prairies were plowed up to plant food for a growing nation, millions of prairie dogs dug extensive burrows for their homes and to raise their families, all while under the watchful eye of the Black-footed Ferret. The ferret, you see, depends exclusively on prairie dogs for both its shelter and for food.

Jump forward several hundred years and the landscape has changed dramatically. Prairie dog villages are isolated to a few locations throughout the western states while the Black-footed Ferret (Mustela nigripes) appears to have become extinct with the death of the last captive specimen at a zoo in 1979-or so thought wildlife biologist.

In 1981 the scientific community discovers a few remain ferrets clinging to life in a prairie dog village in Wyoming. Soon after these ferrets were discovered tragedy strikes when a fatal disease begins to take the lives of the few remaining ferrets. By 1985 only 18 individual ferrets remain alive in the wild and only 7 of these are females. The ferrets are deemed the most endangered mammal in the world at the time. Officially, the black-footed ferret was given federal legal protection as an endangered species in 1967.

Risking total disaster, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service begins trapping the remaining ferrets and launches a risky captive breeding program. Under controlled conditions at seven different breeding facilities scattered through the country, ferrets slowly begin to successfully breed again. The first captive-raised animals were reintroduced back to the wild in Wyoming in 1991. Additional animals were released at the same Wyoming site in 1992, 1993 and 1994, with sites in South Dakota and Montana also receiving ferrets in 1994. Since then several other states and locations have been added to the list including Colorado and Arizona.

Although totally sleep deprived, I was fortunate enough to observe and photograph a true success story and witness first hand how some of the balance of nature is returning.