No black-footed ferrets found in Meeteetse reintroduction area

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 13 Oct, 19:32 · Archive

Wyoming wildlife managers detected no black-footed ferrets in the Absaroka Range foothills near Meeteetse during late August surveys.

Wyoming wildlife managers report that no black-footed ferrets are being detected in the Absaroka Range foothills near Meeteetse, a conservation area where the species was reintroduced to the wild in 2016 after a three-decade absence. Plague and drought are suspected causes of a population collapse in the area.

Andrew Gygli, small carnivore biologist at the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said surveyors spent a couple of hundred hours surveying 4,000 to 5,000 acres of the reintroduction area without seeing any ferrets. The complete absence during late August surveys was not entirely unexpected, given that sylvatic plague flared in the region in 2018 and 2019, causing ferret numbers to plunge to just one confirmed animal in 2020.

Subsequent releases of captive-raised ferrets, including 18 animals in 2022, helped the population temporarily recover. However, plague struck again in 2023, and by 2025 spotlighting surveyors detected just a single ferret. This summer there were none. Gygli cautioned that the complete absence does not assure the reintroduced population is entirely gone, though the outlook appears bleak.

How it is being reported

• No black-footed ferrets found in Meeteetse, 40 years after a rescue saved the speciesWyoming wildlife managers report no black-footed ferrets are being detected in the Absaroka Range foothills near Meeteetse, a key conservation area for the species.Clickorlando · 13 Oct, 17:06
• No black-footed ferrets found in Meeteetse, 40 years after a rescue saved the speciesWyoming wildlife managers report no black-footed ferrets are being detected in the Absaroka Range foothills near Meeteetse, a key conservation area for the species.News4Jax · 13 Oct, 17:06

In this story: Meeteetse · Wyoming Game and Fish Department · Absaroka Range · Andy Gygli · Allen Hogg

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