Ferret Release Costly, Risky,
But Doggedly Going On Anyway

(Editor's note: Question: What small, weasel-like predator is worth approximately $5400 of taxpayers' money per pop — at least to the government? Answer: See below ...)

SALT LAKE CITY —(AP)— Emerald eyes flickered across the Coyote Basin Thursday night, lighting hopes of the black-footed ferrets' survival.

Seventy of the ferrets, among the rarest mammals in North America, are being reintroduced near the Utah-Colorado border. It is the largest release under a national recovery program that hopes to restore the aggressive predator to a part of its original range. Twenty-five were in the first release Thursday night, with all 70 to be released within three days.

``We've got our fingers crossed,'' said William Stroh, a wildlife biologist with the Bureau of Land Management who supervised the release. ``Some people think that even if we reintroduce them into the wild, they're not going to make it. But we're not accepting that.''

Black-footed ferrets are 20 to 24 inches long, weigh up to two pounds and have signature black feet and face mask. Their survival depends on a precarious balance between man and nature.

``There are a lot of odds against them,'' Stroh said.

The ferrets depend on prairie dogs, not only as a source of food but also for shelter. They use the dogs' burrows for dens.

But prairie dogs are susceptible to the bubonic plague. They also are hunted for sport.

``We get people from all over the country that come out here just to shoot prairie dogs,'' Stroh said. ``If you don't have prairie dogs, you don't have ferrets.''

The BLM has closed off sections of the basin to hunters. The area where the ferrets were released has about 40,000 prairie dogs.

But the same number of dogs were killed by the plague about 25 miles north of the basin earlier this year.

``We thought about not bringing the ferrets in, but our studies showed that the plague has not traveled,'' Stroh said. ``We do have a contingency plan to round up the ferrets and get them out if the plague does show up.''

Black-footed ferrets were thought to be extinct in the early 1970s. They were rediscovered in 1981 near Meeteetse, Wyo. But many of them succumbed to diseases. The recovery program was created to breed the survivors and reintroduce them to states where they historically dwelled.

Utah is the fifth state to receive the 140-day-old ferrets, called kits. Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and Arizona already have released ferrets in their ranges.

The program's goal is to start at least 10 self-sustaining colonies with a total of 1500 ferrets. The ferrets came from six zoos and a Colorado breeding facility that raise about 300 ferrets a year with the intention of releasing them into the wild.

Reintroduction offers no guarantees. Ferrets let go in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota in 1995 and 1996 have disappeared. Plague and canine distemper struck ferrets released in Shirley Basin, Wyo. But some apparently survived, based on sightings months later.

Plans to release ferrets on a Montana reservation were canceled this year after a plague outbreak.

The ferrets are protected by the Endangered Species Act. In Utah, the BLM will monitor its roughly $375,000 investment by tracking the nocturnal animals through radio collars and a global positioning system. A census will be taken after 30 days and again after 90 days.

``We'll drive around with spotlights to catch their emerald green eyes,'' Stroh said. ``We're going to try everything we can to make sure they make it.''