Black-footed Ferret Timeline


1851: The black-footed ferret is reported and described by John James Audubon. No one will report seeing a ferret again for another 26 years.

1916: The US National Park Service is established.

1964: A female ferret and kits are found in Mellette County in western South Dakota. They are considered perhaps the last black-footed ferrets in the world.

1967: The black-footed ferret is put on the Endangered Species list.

1971: Executive Order 11643 is implemented, banning the use of poisons with secondary hazards on public lands.

1972: A drowned ferret is discovered in a watering tank in Wyoming. No others are found.

Nine South Dakota ferrets are captured and taken to Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland. It is hoped that these ferrets will produce kits, but every litter is dead at birth.

1973: The Endangered Species Act is passed.

1979: The last Patuxent ferret dies. The black-footed ferret is declared extinct.

1981: September 25th -- A Wyoming ranch dog belonging to John and Lucille Hogg kills a black-footed ferret.

October 29th -- A live black-footed ferret is spotted near Meeteetse, Wyoming. Conservationists and researchers begin an intensive search and study of wild ferrets.

1984: The Meeteetse population is 129 black-footed ferrets. Plans are made to begin a captive breeding program.

1985: Outbreaks of sylvatic plague and canine distemper nearly wipe out the Meeteetse ferrets.

August 27th -- The US Fish & Wildlife Service and Wyoming Game and Fish Department decide to remove all known black-footed ferrets from their habitat in an effort to save the species. From October 1985-September 1986, 17 ferrets are taken into captivity.

1986: The IUCN--World Conservation Union's Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG) conducts a workshop to develop a recovery plan for captive breeding and reintroduction of black-footed ferrets.

1987: The last known ferret is captured at Meeteetse in February. These 18 captive black-footed ferrets are probably the rarest mammals on earth.

A captive breeding program is initiated by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, The Wyoming Game & Fish Department, and the American Zoo & Aquarium Association.

Two litters of ferret kits are born at Sybille Wildlife Research and Conservation Education Center, Wyoming to "Becky" and "Jenny". This brings the total number of black-footed ferrets in captivity to 25.

1988: In October, eight ferrets are flown to the National Zoological Park's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, VA to start a new breeding colony and to guard against catastrophic loss of the captive population.

In December, eight more ferrets are taken to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE.

"Conservation Biology of the Black-footed Ferret" (Seal et al.) is published.

The "Black-footed Ferret Recovery Plan" is drafted by the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

1989: 72 ferret kits are born at Sybille and 6 at Front Royal. The total ferret population is 120.

1990: The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, Colorado joins the captive breeding program.

1991: Shirley Basin, in central Wyoming becomes the first black-footed ferret reintroduction site with the release of 49 juvenile ferrets.

A Species Survival Plan (SSP) is developed in cooperation with the American Zoo and Aquarium Association to manage the genetic and demographic needs of the captive ferret population.

The Louisville Zoological Garden in Louisville, Kentucky and the Phoenix Zoo in Phoenix, AZ join the captive breeding program.

1992: Two litters of wild-born kits are reported in Shirley Basin--the first known kits born in the wild since the Meeteetse population was lost.

1993: Four wild-born litters are discovered in Shirley Basin.

The Toronto Zoo, Toronto, Canada joins the captive breeding program.

1994: The Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in Montana, and Badlands National Park, South Dakota receive ferrets for reintroduction.

An outbreak of plague spreads throughout the Shirley Basin release site and further reintroductions are postponed. A total of 228 ferrets released in Shirley Basin from 1991-1994. Small numbers of ferrets persist there today.

1995: The US Fish & Wildlife Services assumes responsibility for managing the Sybille, WY breeding facility and renames it the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center.

Ferrets are found to be highly susceptible to direct contact with plague.

1996: The US Fish & Wildlife Service establishes a Black-footed Ferret Recovery Implemen-tation Team to help guide recovery efforts. The BFFRIT includes representatives from federal and state governments, Native American tribes, zoos, and conservation organiza-tions.

The South Dakota ferret reintroduction effort expands onto the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.

Arizona joins the reintroduction program by testing the use of on-site "preconditioning" pens for the first time at a release site in the Aubrey Valley in northwestern Arizona.

1997: Twenty-four on-site preconditioning pens are constructed by the US Forest Service on the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. 1997 is the first year that all ferrets destined for reintroduction are preconditioned before release.

A new reintroduction effort begins on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Montana.

1998: The captive breeding program experiences its best year ever with a record 452 ferrets born and 339 surviving to weaning. Eighteen of the weaned young are produced in on-site pens in Arizona--an important milestone.

The number of ferrets available for reintroduction exceeds all previous years with ap-proximately 210 kits released to the wild in Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota.

The pen breeding program expands with the addition of pen facilities built by the Turner Endangered Species Fund in New Mexico. Twenty pens are completed at a pending reintroduction site in northwest Colorado, and twenty pens are constructed at Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge in Montana to support on-going release efforts in Montana.

The US Fish & Wildlife Service plans for construction of a new breeding facility near Fort Collins, Colorado to replace the current Wyoming facility.

Perhaps the most important milestone in 1998 is the fact that for the first time since the black-footed ferret recovery program began, there are more ferrets in the wild than in captivity. To date, more than 2600 ferrets have been produced in captivity.: