REINTRODUCTION EFFORTS

Preconditioning

​Preconditioning is an important pre-cursor to reintroducing captive bred black-footed ferrets into the wild. Ferrets are placed in outdoor pens for a minimum of 30 days. While in these pens, they are exposed to natural burrow systems and have the opportunity to encounter live prairie dogs. Most preconditioning is conducted at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado.

​All ferret kits that are candidates for reintroduction are placed in a pen with their littermates and/or their dam. Kits are large enough to kill a prairie dog on their own at about 90 days of age. At about 120 days old, they are ready to naturally disperse from their family group, which is the opportune time to release them into the wild.

During preconditioning, ferrets are protected from predation while gaining experience killing prairie dogs. Before being released, they are vaccinated against canine distemper virus and plague. Preconditioning significantly increases a black-footed ferret’s chance of survival in the wild. Since 1996, all ferrets that have been reintroduced have gone through this management stage.

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Reintroduction into the wild
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Since 1991, state and federal agencies, in cooperation with Native American tribes, private landowners, non-profit organizations, and the North American zoo community have reintroduced thousands of black-footed ferrets into the wild. Beginning in Wyoming, reintroduction efforts have expanded to eight states and three countries.

Currently, there are 30 black-footed ferret reintroduction sites. Black-footed ferrets have been released in Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Kansas, New Mexico, Canada, and Mexico.

Current numbers in the wild are encouraging, but more reintroduction sites are needed to recover the species. Today, approximately 300 individual ferrets now live in the wild. Each year, 150-220 black-footed ferrets are preconditioned and reintroduced into the wild from the captive breeding population. Additionally, a number of wild born ferrets may be translocated from self-sustaining reintroduction sites to other sites in order to bolster their populations.

​Ferrets have returned to state, federal, tribal and private lands. The biggest obstacle to ferret recovery today is the non native disease sylvatic plague and habitat.

Monitoring Reintroduced Populations

To monitor ferrets, scientists and volunteers conduct nighttime spotlight surveys. Black-footed ferrets have a brilliant emerald green eye shine that aids in locating them. In late summer, efforts are made to locate litters born in the wild. Biologist use live traps and transponder chip readers to identify individual ferrets. During winter, snow tracking surveys may be conducted to locate ferrets.
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