Probable remnant population of Black-footed ferrets discovered!

[Surroundx]

"A Columbus biologist might have discovered the first wild colony of an endangered species since 1981...Gutzmer said the chances that those three ferrets — one adult and two juveniles — were part of a reintroduced colony are slim. The closest reintroduction sites are 50-100 miles away..."

City biologist excited by rare ferret find

 

[Kifaru Bwana]

Potentially the most important announcement for US zoological history for 2012. A new gene pool of an thought of as extinct line in Dakota miles and miles from current distribution and the original source population for the recovery effort in Wyoming.

 

[DavidBrown]

Whether it is a new wild population (hopefully it is and that would be spectacular) or reintroduced ferrets expanding their range, this is good news.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

Excellent news either way; as one of the most threatened mustelids in the world I dearly hope the numbers of Mustela nigripes improve.

 

[Monty]

When I worked in Montana I was surprised how rare Prairie Dog were. My boss told me there used to be a lot until the government started supplying ranchers with poisoned oats to get rid of them. He showed me one spot where the remains of holes could still be made out. That town used to be 300 acres he said. I would not be surprised if they had ferrets before the dogs were poisoned. I found it strange that this article states.

It took nearly a month to spot a ferret on the more than 80 acres of land housing 200 prairie dog towns

Thats either a journalistic mistake or an area of very small Prairie Dog towns, and does not sound right to me.

 

[DavidBrown]

When I worked in Montana I was surprised how rare Prairie Dog were. My boss told me there used to be a lot until the government started supplying ranchers with poisoned oats to get rid of them. He showed me one spot where the remains of holes could still be made out. That town used to be 300 acres he said. I would not be surprised if they had ferrets before the dogs were poisoned. I found it strange that this article states.

Thats either a journalistic mistake or an area of very small Prairie Dog towns, and does not sound right to me.

Prairie dogs occupy only 1-5% of their original range. Modern prairie dogs are living in a post-apocalyptic world from their perspective. The notion that they are vermin and still actively eradicated in their remaining range is insane from an ecological perspective.

The black-footed ferrets are nocturnal so maybe that is why they were so hard to find? They were thought to be extinct for several years before a dead one that a guy's dog had killed famously turned up in his back yard, so they are very elusive.

Here is a webpage with a great video history of the black-footed ferret: http://www.blackfootedferret.org/history