Efforts on 2 fronts to save a population of ferrets

Black-footed ferrets in South Dakota are facing danger from plague and the poisoning of their prey. (Travis Livieri/Prairie Research) Efforts on 2 fronts to save a population of ferrets : A colony that contains nearly half of the black-footed ferrets in the United States and which biologists say is critical to the long-term health of the species has been struck by plague, which may have killed a third of the 300 animals. A much-publicized endangered species in the 1970s that had dwindled to 18 animals, the black-footed ferret had struggled to make a comeback and had been doing relatively well for decades. But plague, always a threat to the ferrets and their main prey, prairie dogs, has struck with a vengeance this year, partly because of the wet spring. The ferrets are an easy target for the bacteria. "They are exquisitely... [read full story]