This species of ferret is very shy and is very difficult to see in its natural habitat: it was found in a garage in Colorado even though it is nearly extinct
There are a lot of endangered animals: some are more famous, such as the Javan rhinoceros, the Komodo dragon or the Sumatran elephant. Some of these animals are also radically changing their appearance. Others, like the small black-footed ferret, are less well known. But no less important. And often, they find homes in the strangest places, like a man’s garage in Colorado.
A very rare mammal
The black-footed ferret is considered the rarest mammal in North America, and according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it’s one of the most endangered animal species in the United States.
It had actually already been declared extinct in 1979, but two years later a very small group of specimens was found in the northwestern part of Wyoming, and was used as the starting point for a repopulation program that in recent years has also developed an attempt at genetic cloning.
The garage in Colorado
The black-footed ferret found in a man’s garage in Pueblo West, near a ranch in Colorado, was one of the specimens in the repopulation and reintroduction program carried out by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
The garage owner put it in a cage and turned it over to USFWS researchers. More than 120 black-footed ferrets have been released in that area, which is called Walker Ranch, since 2013 to re-habituate them to their habitat.
The re-homing program was put on hold in 2020 because of the pandemic, but two weeks ago nine ferrets were released in a 1,600-acre area. Each was implanted with a tracking chip. The ferret in the garage was one of those nine.
“We don’t know why this ferret left the colony,” explains Ed Schmal, one of the biologists working on the project. “Sometimes they climb into higher areas to look for a suitable home, or maybe this specimen was turned away from the other ferrets.”
Surely it was not injured, and it was released back into its habitat. This is the first time a black-footed ferret has ever willingly entered a garage or man-made structure. “It’s very rare because they are nocturnal and extremely shy animals. We’re glad this specimen is okay and not injured,” Schmal adds.