Six years later, in 1987, the small, lone colony of the masked weasels that Shep discovered had dwindled to only 18 animals. All of
them were in captivity by then to preserve the species. Since then, however,
captive breeding programs and reintroductions into the wild have pulled
black-footed ferrets from the brink of extinction.
In the process,
"
Travis Livieri of Prairie Wildlife Research, a
nonprofit group that works on ferret recovery, this fall is counting ferrets in
"As far as we know, the population is stable," Livieri
said.
A fight over ferrets
But not everyone in
The South Dakota Stockgrowers Association has voted
unanimously to oppose reintroducing more black-footed ferrets into the state.
"It's ludicrous for government agencies to allow prairie dogs to destroy
the habitat for every species of wildlife that exists in the prairie dog towns,
all in the name of 'saving' the black-footed ferret," Stockgrowers
spokesman Marvin Jobgen of Scenic said in a release
after the meeting.
Ranchers such as Jobgen say prairie dogs migrating
out of
"The management plan for prairie dogs just went away," Pennington
County Commissioner Jim Kjerstad said, prompting the
commission to call for a moratorium on the black-footed ferret program.
The U.S. Forest Service began poisoning prairie dogs in buffer zones near
private land last year, but ranchers said the measure was inadequate.
In September, the Forest Service began a one-year process to expand prairie-dog
management -- including poisoning -- to all of the Buffalo Gap and
Livieri, who lives in Wall and who has researched
ferrets in
Livieri also noted that the
That question, however, is controversial and complicated. The answer depends on
science, which, in the case of ferrets, is incomplete, and on subjective values
-- that is, what role, if any, should the black-footed ferret play in a modern
prairie ecosystem.
Once-prosperous weasels
Black-footed ferrets, or "Mustela nigripes," are related to weasels, skunks, badgers,
otters and wolverines. Their range was the entire
Black-footed ferrets even live in prairie-dog burrows, and they spend 90
percent of their time underground. They are 18 to 24 inches long, and their slender
bodies are perfect for slinking through narrow tunnels and surprising sleeping
prairie dogs.
A single ferret can eat 100 prairie dogs a year, according to a fact sheet
prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program.
Living was easy for ferrets when bison roamed the plains and prairie-dog towns
stretched for miles. Ranching and farming, however, were not believed to be
compatible with prairie dogs, and in the 1920s and 1930s, many colonies were
eradicated or reduced and, in turn, reducing the food supply of the
black-footed ferret.
Ferrets today
On clear, dry nights over the next couple of months, Livieri will be roaming
He'll put transponders over holes leading to prairie-dog burrows, and the
transponders will detect signals from microchips Livieri
has implanted in ferrets he has already counted. He'll compare that data with a
huge computer database he has developed for the
Livieri expects that of about 250 ferrets in the
basin, 100 will be breeding adults -- probably about 67 females and 33 males.
Why that ratio? "We don't know," he said. "We haven't studied
them long enough.
Livieri is also monitoring about 130 ferrets
northeast of Eagle Butte on Cheyenne River Indian Reservation and about 40 on
Rosebud Indian Reservation.
More than 2,000 black-footed ferrets have been introduced into the wild since
1991, and Lockhart estimates there are 1,000 to 1,200 black-footed ferrets
today -- including about 350 still in captivity. Some of those are in a
"pre-condition pen" in
"To come from just 18 animals to what we have today is just amazing,"
Livieri said.
The ferret future
Lockhart also believes that the recovery of the black-footed ferret is amazing,
though his optimism has dimmed in the past couple of years.
"In 2004, we were talking about moving toward de-listing," he said,
that is, removing ferrets from the endangered species list. The benchmark for
de-listing is 1,500 breeding adults at a variety of locations throughout the
West.
"We're not talking about that anymore," Lockhart said. "This has
been one of the most successful recovery projects on record, but I think we're
close to reversing direction. That's scary to me."
Lockhart says the total land devoted to the black-footed ferret is less than 1
percent of the nation's public grasslands. "It's a trivial amount of
land," he said, but he acknowledged, "It's not trivial if you live
next to it."
Still, Lockhart believes some prairie-dog habitat should be left alone to
regulate itself -- not only for ferrets but to benefit a host of species,
including ferruginous hawks, burrowing owls and swift foxes.
"It goes to the heart of biodiversity. Ferrets are an indicator species of
a healthy, vibrant prairie ecosystem," Lockhart said.
The main threats to ferrets now are the intertwined effects of economics,
politics and a five-year drought.
Wet years in the 1990s kept grass high in the
Ranchers had enlisted Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to pressure the Forest Service
to amend the prairie-dog management plan, a process that will take about year.
Environmental groups also are pressuring the Forest Service. Even Jane Goodall issued a statement calling for protection of
Livieri said he hopes the Forest Service decides the
issue will be based on science, not politics. "Twenty-five years post-Shep, we are still asking the question, 'Can we let these
creatures exist?"'
Then, he added his own prediction: "It's going to be a dog fight, pun
intended."