When John James Audubon and his naturalist friend Reverend John Bachman were working on their book The Quadrupeds of North America, a fur trader sent them a pelt with brown and ivory markings, black feet, and a black tipped tail. This was the first documented discovery of a now endangered species-the black footed ferret. Unfortunately, most people dismissed this "discovery" as a clever way to sell their book as no other ferrets were seen for another 25 years.

The black footed ferret was listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 1967. By the 1970's however, the ferret was considered by most of the public to be extinct as no one had seen any since it had been declared an endangered species. This was proved wrong in September 1981 when a population of black footed ferrets was found in Meeteetse, Wyoming. Biologists were hopeful that the new found population would be able to help the species; however, soon after it was discovered, a plague spread though the ferret population leaving only a few survivors.

At this point, biologists decided that they couldn't work to save the ferrets by keeping them in the wild. In 1985, with only two males and two females left from the Meeteetse population, biologists and wildlife enthusiasts worked to capture the remaining wild population-18 in total. A captive breeding program was started at Wyoming's Sybille Research Facility and in 1987, seven ferret babies were born with 34 more in 1988. Scientists were again hopeful for the survival of the species; however, remembering the plague that wiped out the majority of the Meeteetse population, they knew they had to separate the one captive population into two, to ensure their survival. In October 1988, a second population of black footed ferrets were moved to the Smithsonian's Conservation and Research Center (CRC) in Front Royal, Virginia.

At CRC, the ferrets were introduced into another breeding program with much success. By 1991, the number of ferrets in breeding programs reached 200 and it was at this time that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service decided to re-release the ferrets back into the wild. Unfortunately, this first attempt ended in disaster because the ferrets, who were born and raised in captivity, did not know how to defend themselves against predators. Only a few ferrets survived their first attempt at re-release and it was up to the scientists at CRC to figure out how to teach survival skills to the young captive ferrets.

What the CRC did was release the ferrets into a pen outside on the grounds. Being outside brought out the native instincts in the ferrets who learned how to dig burrows into the ground to hide from predators and to also hunt for food. After their first attempt at reintroducing the ferrets into the wild, the new recovery plan calls for the establishment of a pre-breeding population of 1,500 animals in ten separate populations by the year 2010 with no fewer than 30 breeding adults. This is not an overly ambitious goal as the average litter size for a black footed ferret is 1-6 per year. If this objective is met, the ferret can be down listed from endangered to threatened status in the U.S.. Currently reintroduction of captive ferrets is encouraged by the U.S. government; however, problems are still being encountered. Fewer animals have been released at each reintroduction site than biologists would like and the survival of the released animals has been low.

Just last year, the CRC was able to re-release a population of ferrets into Mexico and so far their survival has looked good. Biologists are hopeful that if the population released into Mexico survives, there may be hope for the rest of the species. Still, the ferret population depends quite a bit on the survival of the prairie dogs as they are their primary food source. Just recently (1995) the Nebraska Legislature repealed a law, in effect since the 1930s, that required an annual extermination of prairie dogs on all private and state owned land. If we can continue to repel laws such as these and enforce the protection laws for prairie dogs and ferrets, then the black footed ferret stands a chance of survival.