According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 30 members of the black-footed ferret species were released on Wednesday in a prairie dog colony located near John Martin State Park. With this animal being one of the rarest mammals in North America, authorities called the moment a "big day for wildlife conservation."
The colony where the ferrets were released is located on the 44,000-acre Southern Plains Preserve near Lamar, Colorado. With the species being federally threatened, these ferrets were raised at a United States Forest Service Fish and Wildlife breeding facility.
Video from the scene shows staff leading the ferrets into existing prairie dog burrows, which is where authorities say they hope the introduced animals will form a colony. They believe the ferrets will be able to survive by feeding solely on prairie dogs in the area.
According to the National Parks Service, prairie dogs tend to make up an estimated 90 percent of the typical black-footed ferret's diet, making the presence of a healthy prairie dog colony crucial to the survival of these tiny predators. A report on the matter states that one ferret will eat one prairie dog about every three days – more than 100 each year.
Based on those numbers, alone, the 30 ferrets that were introduced into the colony near Lamar would need about 3,650 prairie dogs per year to thrive.
While urban development and other predators can be threats that prairie dog communities face on a regular basis, plague is also a major concern. To help counteract this, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff distributes peanut butter pellets laced with plague vaccine in the colonies.
According to CPW, prairie dogs in the area immediately spotted the new threat of the ferrets, with some sounding an alarm. Meanwhile, the ferrets "were quick to spot their prey."
This is the eighth place the ferrets have been released in Colorado's Eastern Plains region.
Just how rare is the black-footed ferret?
At one point, the animal was so rare it was thought to be extinct. Then in 1981, a small colony was found on a ranch in Wyoming, prompting a breeding and reintroduction effort. An 2021 article from The Nature Conservancy put their numbers at about 300 in the wild.
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