The black-footed ferret, thought to be extinct in the mid-1970s, is making steps toward a comeback at the National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center north of Wellington.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday the birth of this year’s first litter of ferret kits. Seven kits were born March 24 to Harp, a 2-year-old captive ferret.
The births mark the beginning of the spring whelping season during which 350 to 450 kits are expected to be born.
Genetically healthy animals will remain in the breeding program. Others will be candidates to go back into their natural habitat, which stretches from southern Saskatchewan to northern Mexico.
Release candidates spend 30 days in preconditioning pens at the conservation center where they practice killing prairie dogs, their preferred prey.
Sarah Bexell, an education specialist at the conservation center, said the captive breeding program began in 1985 with a founding population of 18 animals.
Since then, 6,300 kits have been born in captivity and 2,300 have been introduced into the wild. Ferrets live two to four years in the wild and seven to nine years in captivity.
Still, Bexell said, there are challenges ahead.
“We’ve become really good at captive breeding,” Bexell said. “Now, really, the stalemate we have is conservation of wild land.”
Black-footed ferrets were first listed as an endangered species in 1967, in part because so much of their natural prairie habitat is used for agriculture.
Bexell said landowners often kill prairie dogs because they see them as a threat to the well-being of their livestock.
“The prey base for black-footed ferrets has been nearly exterminated,” she said. “We do need to eat, but we need to find a balance.”
As of last fall, only 800 black-footed ferrets lived in the wild. The species remains one of the most endangered mammals in North America.
George Plaven: 303-954-1638 or gplaven@denverpost.com
