Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico is doing its part to ensure the survival of the endangered black-footed ferret, putting dozens of the animals in captivity in areas similar to what they would experience in the wild.
The ferrets, once thought to be extinct, were born in captivity and moved into a 2,500-square-foot outdoor pen once inhabited by prairie dogs.
About two dozen were released last week in Mexico near Janos, Chihuahua. Another 40 ferrets were released in Colorado on Thursday.
"We produce a lot of ferrets, and they’re all high quality," said Dustin Long, a biologist at Vermejo Park Ranch. He said 25 kits, or baby ferrets, were produced on the ranch this year.
The ferrets’ natural habitat is believed to have extended from Canada to Mexico, but rural development and disease among the black-footed ferret and the prairie dog crippled the ferret population in 1974.
About 700 black-footed ferrets are known to exist, with about half of them living in the wild, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Dario Bard.
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