Once thought extinct, black-footed ferrets rebound

[September 26, 2011]  MEETEETSE, Wyo. (AP) -- The only ferret species native to North America is well on its way to recovery since biologists concluded the creatures went extinct in 1979.

Thirty years ago this month, a ranch dog named Shep killed a black-footed ferret near Meeteetse (me-TEET'-see) in northwest Wyoming.

Shep's owner found the dead ferret. Word got out and it didn't take long for biologists to find about 100 black-footed ferrets living on a nearby ranch.

A federal captive breeding program has helped to re-establish about 1,000 black-footed ferrets in eight Western states, Canada and Mexico.

Black-footed ferrets are predators that prey exclusively on prairie dogs. Ranchers continue to aggressively poison and shoot prairie dogs on their land. Plague outbreaks also have taken a severe toll on prairie dogs over the past century.

[Associated Press; By MEAD GRUVER]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.