WHAT DEFENDERS IS DOING

As an official member of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) black-footed ferret
recovery implementation team, Defenders of Wildlife works with governments, non-
profits and private landowners to maintain and expand recovery sites for ferrets in their
native western and central grassland and shrublands.

Though we have a long way to go, by nearly all measurements, the black-footed ferret’s
reintroduction to the wild has been a stunning accomplishment. Our challenge continues to be
establishing more large colonies of prairie dogs so that we can finish the job of restoring one of the
most endangered mammals on the continent.

Black-footed Ferret Recovery Team

As an official member of the FWS black-footed ferret recovery team, Defenders is helping to
reintroduce black-footed ferrets and protect them once reintroduced. Because of the critical
importance of prairie dogs to black-footed ferrets, Defenders is also working to restore prairie dogs
to new sites and prevent the destruction of prairie dog colonies in existing black-footed ferret areas,
such as Conata Basin, South Dakota—one of the most important locations for black-footed ferrets.

Ferrets Reintroduced to Fort Belknap Reservation

The Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes of the Fort Belknap Indian Community have developed a
Black-footed Ferret Reintroduction Project on tribal lands in order to increase potential for hosting a
self-sustaining (120 breeding adults) population of black-footed ferrets.

Defenders helped reintroduce ferrets to Fort Belknap Reservation in northcentral Montana. Along
with our partners from Fort Belknap Fish and Wildlife department and World Wildlife Fund, we
mapped the recovering prairie dog colonies, dusted them to prevent plague, and reintroduced 32
ferrets. Our hope is that this site will grow in size and become home to a stable ferret population in
future years.

Ferrets Reintroduced to Western Kansas

Defenders helped ranchers in Kansas fight to save prairie dogs and a recently-reintroduced ferret
population from a century-old state law requiring the death of all prairie dogs. Defenders engaged
our members in Kansas and elsewhere to ask then-Governor Sebelius to help these landowners.
Almost 33,000 members responded, helping to raise the profile of this important conservation effort.
After years of legal attacks from the county commissioners, these ranchers won their right to
maintain wildlife – including prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets – on their ranches. In addition to
this effort, Defenders has been on the ground helping these landowners with coexistence tools to
reduce conflict with neighboring landowners who do not want prairie dog colonies expanding onto
their properties.

Captive Breeding Program Brings Success in the Wild

Defenders has been instrumental in a successful black-footed ferret captive-breeding program,

initiated in 1987, that continues to this day. Now, ferrets are living in the wild in more than two