Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) biologists have taken a significant step toward rescuing the endangered black-footed ferret from extinction.
Ten black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced to the Aubrey Valley/Double O Ranch area, Arizona's only active recovery site for these elusive creatures, after years of intensive research and strategic intervention.
The journey began with a critical investigation into the population's steep decline. Once thriving with 123 individuals in 2012, the ferret population had fallen dramatically.
The culprit was sylvatic plague, a bacterial disease that devastates both ferrets and their primary prey, Gunnison's prairie dogs.
"We couldn't begin to re-establish this population without understanding the ferret die-off," Holly Hicks, AZGFD's senior small mammal management specialist, said in a statement.
Newsweek contacted AZGFD outside of business hours via email for comment.
A comprehensive three-year study revealed that ferrets closely track prairie dog populations, leading to a novel strategy to combat the plague.
By treating prairie dog colonies with flea medication similar to that used for household pets, a buffer against the disease that previously devastated ferret populations was created.
Each of the 10 reintroduced ferrets was vaccinated against plague and equipped with a tracking chip, ensuring close monitoring of their adaptation.
Adding to the excitement, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recently announced a groundbreaking achievement in endangered species conservation.
Antonia, a cloned black-footed ferret, gave birth to two healthy offspring (kits) earlier this month -- the first time a cloned endangered species has successfully reproduced.
The kits were created using genetic material from Willa, a ferret whose tissue samples from 1988 contain three times the genetic diversity of the current population. This breakthrough offers hope for increasing the genetic resilience of a species that was once thought to be extinct.
"The successful breeding and subsequent birth of Antonia's kits marks a major milestone in endangered species conservation," Paul Marinari, Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, said in a statement.
"The many partners in the Black-footed Ferret Recovery Program continue their innovative and inspirational efforts to save this species and be a model for other conservation programs across the globe."
Tens of thousands of black-footed ferrets roamed North America before the 1800s. Their decline was precipitated by westward expansion, which systematically eliminated prairie dog populations -- the ferrets' primary food source.
Declared extinct in 1979, the remarkable discovery of a residual wild population near Meeteetse, Wyoming, in 1981 reignited conservation efforts.
With ongoing reintroduction efforts in Arizona, Colorado and Montana, and innovative approaches like genetic cloning, the future looks promising for the black-footed ferret.
Biologists plan to continue ferret releases over the next three years, carefully monitoring population dynamics and health.