Black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced to Arizona for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The creatures had been all but wiped out by a disease known as the sylvatic plague which scientists have now managed to get under control – so experts have given the predators another stab at survival in the Grand Canyon State.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) bred ten of the ferrets in captivity before releasing them in the Aubrey Valley area, an hour west of Flagstaff.
They learned how to hunt and survive at a Colorado facility before they were given vaccinations and released into the wild.
The Arizona agency worked with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to figure out what was driving the ferrets to extinction before finding a solution.
Black-footed ferrets have been nicknamed ‘little vampires’ by wildlife workers for their protruding fangs and ability to hunt at night, like the mythical creatures.
‘We couldn’t begin to re-establish this population without understanding the ferret die-off,’ explained senior small mammal management specialist Holly Hicks.
Her team identified that sylvatic plague was also infecting ferrets’ main prey, Gunnison’s prairie dogs.
The bacterial disease is transmitted by fleas and has resulted in the decline of more than 100 ferrets in Arizona since the early 2000s.
While the prairie dogs survived year to year with the plague, the ferrets were extremely susceptible even to low levels of the disease.
‘It was starting to become obvious that it was a prey base issue,’ said Hicks. ‘So in 2020, we switched to a disease treatment study of the prairie dogs.’
Conservationists are combatting the disease using flea treatments with the same active ingredient as those used in dog and cat medicine.
The ferrets have also been microchipped so that scientists can study them going forwards.
Each was released with a ‘little chunk of prairie dog snack to send them on their way’, according to the AZGFD.
Future controlled releases of ferrets have also been scheduled for the next three years.
It comes after scientists managed to clone two black-footed ferrets using frozen genes from 1988 earlier this year.
The ferrets – named Antonia and Noreen – could be the much-needed solution to the species’ survival that has dwindled to just 300 in the wild.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service said it hopes to breed when they reach full maturity later this year.
Black-footed ferrets are the only species native to North America and are one of the continent’s most endangered mammals.
According to the World Wildlife Forum, ferret numbers are indicative of the health of the grassland ecosystem.