The black-footed ferret is the most critically-endangered land mammal in North America. Once thought extinct, a tiny population was discovered decades ago on a ranch near Meteetse, Wyoming and the animals were brought into captivity. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, black-footed ferrets are getting a second chance in the wild. They depend on prairie dogs to survive but prairie dogs remain targets of annihilation in the West. Photo courtesy Ryan Moehring/US Fish and Wildlife Service
The black-footed ferret is the most critically-endangered land mammal in North America. Once thought extinct, a tiny population was discovered decades ago on a ranch near Meteetse, Wyoming and the animals were brought into captivity. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, black-footed ferrets are getting a second chance in the wild. They depend on prairie dogs to survive but prairie dogs remain targets of annihilation in the West. Photo courtesy Ryan Moehring/US Fish and Wildlife Service