For nearly three decades, the black-footed ferret was considered extinct after previously thriving in the Great Plains.
And now those ferrets have been reintroduced to about 20 sites in North America. And one of them is right off Route 66, west of Seligman, Ariz.
Matt Miller of the Mother Nature Network writes:
Both Jon and I had doubts we’d be able to see ferrets in the wild, but the ferret biologists assured us that we’d have no problem spotting them on ranchlands along historic Route 66.
“You’ll see ferrets tonight, guaranteed,” said Binford-Walsh.
It didn’t take long. Five minutes, in fact.
Driving slowly along the road with spotlights, we picked up the distinctive green eye shine of black-footed ferrets.
We approached slowly on foot, only to have three curious ferrets approach within a few feet of us.
An amazing moment: A creature, one presumed gone forever, now stared into my eyes.
The ferret’s prey is prairie dogs, which are in abundant supply west of Seligman. In fact, on one Route 66 trip, we heard from the car window the prairie dogs barking. So we stopped to take a listen and watch the prairie dogs chatter, scamper around, and maintain a watch for predators. Although we were there just a short time, I have little doubt the area has become a good habitat for those black-footed ferrets.
More about the black-footed ferret reintroduction program can be found here.
Miller uses the story of the ferret’s revival as a teaching moment: Sometimes hope is found when it appears hope is lost.
Glad the ferrets are back, but really hoping they don’t effect the prairie dog population too much… we spent some time camping at the red rock state park near gallup, NM and really enjoyed observing the prairie dogs — my 12-year-old nephew had such a great time photographing and filming them (we initially had no idea what animal they were… just thought they were some kind of adorable ground squirrel… eventually found out from locals they were “prairie dogs”) … would hate to see them become “endangered” in the area… their population has already been greatly reduced by human intervention… hoping somehow the west is big enough for both ferrets AND prairie dogs!