The black-footed ferret is hard to find. That wasn’t always the case. The species is endemic to North America, and in the early 1900s was commonly found in the Great Plains and semi-arid grassland habitats across the American West. A century ago, the population was estimated in the millions.
By the 1970s, the carnivorous rodent was already listed as endangered, and one of the first species listed in the Endangered Species Act. It was even declared extinct for almost a decade until a small population was found in Wyoming in 1981. Today, thanks to extensive conservation work, the wild population of black-footed ferrets is estimated to be between 300 and 500.
Part of the issue is that the ferrets are specialized predators, shared Chamois Andersen, a representative of the conservation nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife. Black-footed ferrets primarily hunt and eat prairie dogs. The latter rodent, often considered a nuisance and in many states classified as an agricultural pest, constitutes some 98% of the ferret’s diet. Human eradication of prairie dogs has had significant effects on black-footed ferrets and other species that coexist in semi-arid ecosystems.
Black-footed ferrets are “one of the most endangered species in North America,” said Andersen. Given the still precarious status of the small predators, she emphasized that conservation work with the species requires boots on the ground, program funding and personnel. “We could lose half the population in a year without federal funding,” she said. Defenders of Wildlife and other conservation advocates are making noise about the importance of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for individual species and their broader ecosystems.
Andersen and colleagues point out that the ESA is highly effective, citing that almost all the species listed by the act as endangered have not gone extinct and that the populations of many are rebounding. Among those is the American Bald Eagle, which had plummeted to about 400 nesting pairs in the 1960s. Conservationists credit ESA approaches for helping bring the bald eagle population back into the hundreds of thousands today.
“We need Congress to step up and fund the Endangered Species Act,” Andersen said when asked what human actions can help protect the black-footed ferret. “Federal cuts have serious implications for wildlife conservation”, and Defenders of Wildlife hopes to protect conservation funding in order to support countless at-risk species, healthy ecosystems and, by extension, agricultural and tourism economies.
The main ferret food source, prairie dogs, are less at-risk than their predators. Of the five North American species of prairie dog, only two are listed as endangered. Yet these species have declined significantly over the last century. “We’ve lost 95% of prairie dogs across their range,” Andersen said. Prairie dogs are considered a keystone species for prairie grassland ecosystems.
“Prairie grasslands are one of the most threatened ecosystems on the continent,” Andersen explained. In fact, prairie dog connections with the habitat is a major focus of ongoing Colorado State University research. “A healthy population of prairie dogs means ferrets and other species will do well,” said Andersen. In addition to being a food source for ferrets, raptors, coyotes and other species, the rodents are a kind of landscape architect. Their tunnels create habitat for many other small and medium species, and affect soil characteristics.
Andersen and her colleagues hope to encourage people to advocate for the ESA. “Our call to action is for people to contact their representatives and ask them to continue funding the ESA,” she said. They also hope more people volunteer for conservation work. “Volunteer where you can, look for opportunities in your community,” she said.
Andersen also pointed out that for people concerned about prairie dogs as risks to horses or livestock, there are alternatives to poison or pellet guns. Defenders of Wildlife hopes to promote non-lethal alternatives like capture and relocation for the sake of wild ecosystems.