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"[T]his plane extends with the same bredth from the creek below to the distance of near three miles ablove parrallel with the river, and it is intirely occupyed by the burrows of the barking squiril heretofore described. . . . a great number of wolves of the small kind, [hawks] and some pole-cats were to be seen. I presume that those anamals feed on this squirril." --Meriwether Lewis
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As the group headed to the Upper Missouri River, Lewis took a day to stretch his legs and explore the new landscape. In this country of deep ravines and open plains, he noticed acres of prairie dogs poking out of their burrows. Predators waited for their chance at a prairie-dog meal, most hiding in the grass or circling overhead, others lurking underground.
Spending much of the day out of sight below the soil surface, the black-footed ferret wasn't described until the naturalist John James Audubon wrote about it in 1851 (though Lewis recorded seeing "pole cats," which may have been a reference to the ferrets). No one else commented on the ferrets for another 26 years. But the animal's elusive nature didn't keep it out of trouble. The lithe creature with a black bandit mask was destined to become one of North America's most endangered mammals.
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The fate of the black-footed ferret is intimately linked to that of the black-tailed prairie dog. Originally, the ferret lived throughout grasslands from Canada to northern Mexico, reaching as far west as Utah. As settlers plowed up the Great Plains soil and governments launched prairie-dog eradication campaigns, ferrets vanished too. The burrows where they sought shelter and bred disappeared, and they died from eating poisoned prairie dogs.
In the 1960s, biologists became alarmed by the decline of the black-footed ferret. By 1967, only a handful remained. Twelve years later, scientists deemed the ferret extinct.
Then in September 1981, near Meeteetse, Wyoming, a dog killed a black-footed ferret. Hope blossomed as a group of 129 was found alive in a prairie-dog town. Unfortunately, sylvatic plague, which affects both ferrets and prairie dogs, struck the colony, killing off much of the population. In 1985, an outbreak of another disease, canine distempter, reduced the population further. The remaining 18 ferrets were collected for a captive breeding program.
By 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had reintroduced 1,200 ferrets to sites in Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, and Arizona.
The Fish and Wildlife Service recovery-plan goal is to reintroduce an additional 1,500 ferrets and to establish a minimum of 10 populations with at least 30 breeding adults in each by 2010. To be a good recovery site for the black-footed ferret, an area needs 1,000 acres or more of prairie dogs. By protecting grassland habitat, we can ensure that the 1979 reports of extinction remain a mistake, not a prediction.
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