Back from the brink

It’s good to see that the BFF recovery program is going so well.

Of course you still hear people grumbling about the fact that prarie dog populations are declining because of the BFFs – sometimes it seems like it’s impossible to make everyone happy.

By WILLY ZIMMERStar-Tribune staff writer
Sunday, September 03, 2006

Most Wyoming residents will wake up Sept. 25, pour a cup of coffee and reluctantly face another mundane Monday.

A handful of Wyoming Game and Fish Department veterans, however, may pour a cup of something with more of a jolt to it and share fond memories of Shep, Scarface and fallen comrades.

Photo courtesy of http://www.blackfootedferret.org/

Sept. 25 is the 25th anniversary of the day the dog named Shep brought home to Meeteetse ranchers John and Lucille Hogg a dead black-footed ferret. That bit of canine misbehavior set in motion events that led to what many feel is the greatest conservation success of the 20th century.For those not familiar with the story, the black-footed ferret once thrived on the plains of the central and southwest United States. The species preys exclusively on prairie dogs, however, and prairie dogs have been eliminated from much of their former range by development and hunting. The black-footed ferrets declined with them, and were considered extinct until 1981.

Back from the brink

All-About-Ferrets.com

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