It is National Wildlife Refuge Week so perhaps it is appropriate that I got to spot one of these cool creatures Sunday at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. The story of the black-footed ferret is one of seeing a species pushed to the brink of extinction – in fact we thought it was gone – then finding a small population in the wild and taking on the painstaking work of restoring it.
It’s an amazing story of conservation and one done in large part thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and our national wildlife refuges. The ferrets were reintroduced at the Arsenal almost 10 years ago and I have been fortunate enough to spot this endangered creature less than a dozen times, each is a special treat, even if far off like this one was.
As for this particular ferret, it ran from burrow to burrow, looking for a meal but came up empty handed.
