The ferrets appear to be obligatory predators on the prairie dogs and once occupied a range essentially identical to that of the prairie dogs. They prey on them and also use their burrows for shelter and nesting. The prairie dogs are considered agricultural pests and competitors with livestock since white settlement first began in the American west. Large scale rodent control programs were implemented by the state and federal governments. They drastically reduced the population of prairie dogs (and other species related to the prairie dog ecosystem) through trapping, gassing and poisoning. These poisoning programs were considered a major cause of the ferret's demise. But, the main cause was the loss of the ferret's prey base and appropriate habitat. Their remaining habitat was fragmented thus leaving the ferret population vulnerable to extinction from various causes including inability to find mates, inbreeding depression,

The ferrets were believed to be extinct in 1974, but in 1981 a ferret was discovered in Meeteetsee, Wyoming when a ranch dog killed an unusual animal eating from its food dish and the rancher took the carcass to a knowledgeable taxidermist. This was viewed as a rare chance to recover the species. In 1985, a catastrophic disease struck the small ferret population, and most remaining animals were taken into captivity. Captive breeding was initiated, and reintroduction into the wild from the captive population began in 1991.

Two federal audits of the ESA implementation have been conducted. Reviews of the FWS endangered species program and found that the federal government did not maintain centralized information needed to determine how well the overall program was operating. Required recovery plans have not been developed and approved for many species. In 16 recovery plans that were investigated in depth, nearly half of the tasks listed had not been undertaken even though the plans had been approved, on average, more than four years earlier. Fws officials attributed this to shortage of funds, "the inspector general of the Interior department has lambasted his federal colleagues at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, charging that they may be sending species to extinction" (Holden1990).

Bean, M.J.1983. The evolution of national wildlife law. Prager, New York.

Through a formal resolution, the American Society of mammologists (1986:786) urged "the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wyoming Fish and Game department, and other state wildlife departments, and numerous and numerous interested conservation groups to make broader recovery efforts" than those exhibited by the current program.

The ferret is just one of more than 900 species listed under the Endangered Species act as either threatened or endangered. Over three thousand more species wait on a list of candidates for such status, but in the 1980s over thirty-four species went extinct while on the waiting list (Cohn, 1993). Is the ferret program representative of the national effort to recover species?

After finding the small population in Wyoming, in 1981, one might expect a well led and smoothly coordinated recovery effort to have been quickly organized to save a species that had been recognized as America's most endangered mammal. Many universities, conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, and local people were willing to help. Collectively they

Some common words found in the essay are:
Endangered Species, Species Act, , Service Federal, Forest Miller, Reviews FWS, Meeteetsee Wyoming, Wilderness Society, Holden1990 Conclusion, JP1993 Defenders, endangered species, prairie dogs, fish wildlife service, black footed, fish wildlife, recovery plans, wildlife service, federal government, footed ferret, black footed ferret, ferret program, species act, endangered species act, american society mammologists, wyoming game fish,
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