Rare ferrets settling in, making babies at new Colorado home
DENVER — Dozens of slinky, ferocious and rare ferrets are settling in and making babies at their new home in Colorado, one year after they were released at a wildlife refuge outside Denver.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service counted 47 endangered black-footed ferrets last month at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. That includes 20 out of the original 28 captive-born ferrets that were released there in 2015, a survival rate of 71 per cent.
“Seventy-one per cent is phenomenal for survival,” said Kimberly Fraser, an outreach specialist for the federal ferret program.
Searchers also found nearly two dozen ferrets that were born at the refuge — a promising sign for the campaign to bring the animals back from the brink of extinction.