Monthly Program

Columbine Room, Fort Collins Lincoln Center, 417 W. Magnolia (maps). Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program. Always considered elusive and rare, black-footed ferrets were not officially recognized by scientists until 1851 when described in a book by naturalist John James Audubon and the Reverend John Bachmann from a single specimen found near the lower waters of the Platte River. They were not mentioned again by science until 1857. Today, black footed ferrets are one of the most endangered mammals in the world. Fragmented habitat, conversion of native grassland to intensive agricultural uses, widespread prairie dog eradication programs, fatal disease plague, and natural predators have all contributed to the plight of these of 18- to 24-inch long mammals highly specialized to a diet of prairie dogs and to sheltering in prairie dog burrows. In 1996, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established a Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team (BFFRIT) to help guide recovery efforts. The BFFRIT includes representatives from federal and state governments, Native American tribes, zoos, and conservation organizations. The BFFRIT mission reads: "Through a team effort, the involved gencies and partners on the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team will promote strategic public awareness, understanding, and support resulting in the successful recovery of the black-footed ferret and the conservation of the ecosystem upon which it depends.” By the year 2010, biologists hope to have 1,500 ferrets established in the wild, with no fewer than 30 breeding adults in each population. If these objectives are met, the ferret could be down listed from endangered to threatened status. Paul Marinari has been the on-site facility manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in northern Colorado since 1996. Paul who says, “Every day the animals will find some new way to surprise you,” will speak from his nearly two decades of experience, working with the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program.

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