Learn all about the efforts to reintroduce the black-footed ferret to the wild in this Bitesize Bonus episode of the Sedgwick County ZooCast.
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VIGNETTE (00:00)
It’s early- hours before the sun will rise. But for the driver and passenger of a sturdy truck on an unlit path, their day is only halfway over.
They’re miles away from any sign of human life, and it’s eerily quiet with only the sharp whistling sound of the wind running through the grass.
The driver keeps their eyes on the dirt path ahead, driving at a slow pace- so as not to miss anything.
The passenger hangs out the window, their face buffeted by the wind and dirt. In their right hand, a high-power flashlight which they’re using the scan the horizon. They’ve been at this for hours with no success.
Suddenly, their breath catches in their throat and they signal for the driver to stop. There in the distance they can see the shining emerald glow they’ve been looking for.
The pair rushes from the car to where they saw the eyes of the animal they’ve been tracking all night. They quickly get to work examining its burrow, setting traps so that it can be tagged and examined.
They can barely contain their excitement and can’t believe their luck at having locked eyes with a black-footed ferret.
INTRO (01:16)
Hello, and welcome to the Sedgwick County ZooCast Bitesize Bonus.
I’m your host, Emily Bishop, and in this mini episode we’ll give you the Zoo Scoop on the efforts to reintroduce the black-footed ferret to its natural habitat.
WHAT IS A BLACK FOOTED FERRET? (01:37)
You’re probably familiar with ferrets. They’re a staple of pet stores nation-wide. And domestic ferrets are often confused with black-footed ferrets. But black-footed ferrets aren’t a domesticated breed; they’re the only ferret species native to North America.
Also called the American polecat or prairie dog hunter, black-footed ferrets are nocturnal and primarily solitary. As one of the monikers suggests, their diet primarily consists of prairie dogs. On average, a black-footed ferret eats one prairie dog every three days. And that has contributed to their decreasing numbers.
Black-footed ferrets are a member of the Mustelidae, or weasel family. On average, they’re just under two feet long and weight around two pounds. Their short, sleek fur is yellowish, with a white underside and faces. They also sport a black mask, black-tipped tail, and of course, black feet- which is where their name comes from.
At one point, black-footed ferrets could be found in twelve states across the central U.S., as well as parts of southern Canada and northern Mexico. Today, they occupy less than 2% of their original range.
Their diet of prairie dogs is part of the reason their population has decreased. Over 90% of a black-footed ferret’s diet consists of prairie dogs. Which means when the prairie dog population decreases, it directly affects the black-footed ferret population.
Prairie dog habitat is severely affected by urban development and human-animal conflict- mainly direct removal by farmers.
The spread of Sylvatic plague also contributes to decreases in prairie dog, and therefore black-footed ferret, populations.
The sylvatic plague is an infectious bacterial disease that primarily affects rodents. The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis is also responsible for pneumonic and bubonic plague in humans.
BLACK-FOOTED FERRET REINTRODUCTION (03:37)
Throughout the 20th century, black-footed ferrets continued to decrease in population and were declared extinct in 1979. But two years later, a wild population was discovered in Meeteetse, Wyoming.
A captive breeding program was then launched by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Currently, there are 30 black-footed ferret reintroduction sites across North America.
Kansas’s reintroduction site is located in Logan County, in the northwest part of the state. Black-footed ferrets were first reintroduced to Kansas in 2007.
Here’s Dan Mulhern. He’s retired now, but he used to work as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And he was present at that first black footed ferret reintroduction way back in 2007.
DAN MULHERN: That’s kind of always the question, isn’t it? Why do we do these things? Why do we try to conserve the species? And there are probably as many different answers to that as there are people who try to answer it.
I lean more into the camp of these species were here before we were. You know, the ferrets, the prairie dogs, all of it. They were here long before we were and they would still be here in good numbers, if not for things that we did.
So, Congress back in the 70s passed this law, the Endangered Species Act and said, you know, we’re gonna identify these species that are in trouble because of human caused impacts. And this agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, is going to take the steps it needs to, to recover and protect these species. So, that’s why we’re- why we’re doing is because it’s our legal mandate to do it. Once we’ve identified a species that’s in this much peril, we are obligated as an agency to try and recover it.
You know, philosophically, where you fall on that spectrum of, are they valuable? Are they not valuable? You know, to me, a species has value just because it’s there in the first place. And it was there for a reason, just like people are; we’re here for a reason. You know, we were, we came about through this whole process of this, this natural world developing and so I think they have as much right to be here as we do. And so, we need to- I feel like- we need to do the things to try and undo some of the things that we as people have done to them to cause them to be imperiled in the first place.
BISHOP: And the efforts to reintroduce the black-footed ferret have been successful. Fish and Wildlife Services started with 18 ferrets, and from those ferrets- fewer than two dozen ferrets, the population has grown. There are now approximately 300 individual ferrets alive in the wild.
Now, let’s return to the sturdy truck on an unlit path where our episode began. These surveys aren’t just a head count for the black-footed ferrets; they’re a checkup on their health as well.
DR. HEATHER ARENS: Basically, we go out in the middle of the night and we survey the land and look for ferrets. And once we find them, we go out and try and capture them in traps. Once we have them in traps, we can anesthetize them and assess their health.
And then we also can give them some vaccines such as plague and distemper, and that will ensure that- their health and longevity while they’re in the wild. And yeah, overall, we can assess how the population is doing and finding any wild born kits. So, it’s really, really important to survey the population here in Kansas.
BISHOP: That was Dr. Heather Arens, a veterinarian at the Sedgwick County Zoo who aids with the reintroduction efforts.
This year, she was able to examine a ferret who was un-chipped, meaning it was born in the wild. This is proof that the vaccinations, and surveys, and conservation are making a difference.
Here’s Dennis Dinwiddie, the director of conservation at the Topeka Zoo.
DENNIS DINWIDDIE: So, black-footed ferrets are proof that we can save a species if we simply decide to do so, if we know that we need to put the resources into it, and are willing to do that. These guys are the proof that we actually can be successful at that. So, one more reason that most people might not think of for “why are they so important? Why is the conservation of black-footed ferrets so important?” Because they are one of the species that taught us that we can save a species.
Every year, the black footed ferret population increases, and with any luck, they will one day be removed from the endangered species list.
LEARN ABOUT WILD LIGHTS (07:58)
That’s what’s new at Zoo with the black-footed ferret reintroduction program. But keep listening after a brief message about upcoming Zoo events to learn about a scientific breakthrough in increasing the black-footed ferret population.
Follow the white rabbit to a land of wonder at this year’s Wild Lights
Come face-to-face with One-of-a-kind Asian Lantern Sculptures. Maybe a Cheshire cat will cross your path, or the queen’s guard of playing cards. Be the guest of honor at a tea party hosted by a hatter and a hare.
Wednesday through Sunday – October 11 through December 17 from 6pm to 9pm
Tickets start at $15 and are available online or in person.
Journey through the looking glass at Wild Lights
A SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH IN INCREASING THE BLACK-FOOTED FERRET POPULATION (08:56)
You might be familiar with Dolly, the sheep that was cloned at the Roslin Institute in 1996. But did you know she’s not the only mammal to be successfully cloned? More than twenty different mammals have been successfully cloned over the years.
And in 2020, Fish and Wildlife Service’s Conservation Center in Colorado successfully cloned a black-footed ferret.
Elizabeth Ann is a clone of Willa, a ferret who died in the 1980s leaving no living descendants.
Elizabeth Ann currently resides in Colorado, and she will not be reintroduced to the wild. Instead, she’s under scientific observation to see how cloning could be used in the long run to help increase the wild black-footed ferret population.
OUTRO (09:47)
Thanks for listening to this Bitesize Bonus episode of the Sedgwick County ZooCast.
For more information on black-footed ferret reintroduction, be sure to follow us on social media, which is linked in the description of this episode. And check out our website: scz.org
I’ve been Emily Bishop, and we hope you enjoyed this mini episode of the Sedgwick County ZooCast.
