For the same reason you probably shouldn’t marry your cousin if you want healthy kids, nearly four decades after the last remaining black-footed ferrets were rescued from a Park County ranch, the species faces an uncertain future, despite early work and foresight by researchers responding to the wildlife crisis. 

Only seven females from the 1985 rescue mission were able to mate in captivity. From that handful of individuals, more than 10,000 offspring have been bred. All black-footed ferrets alive today are closely related. 

There are approximately only 300 black-footed ferrets now living in the wild at controlled sites across the west.

Due to inbreeding, the species have now begun to show noticeable effects of a small gene pool, including lower fertility rates and susceptibility to diseases, said Ryan Phelan, co-founder and Executive Director of Revive & Restore, a non-profit genetics research organization working closely with the federal government on the program. 

Those maladies and fears for the sustainability of the critically endangered species helped form an agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Revive & Restore, which specializes in cloning. 

Early efforts

Surprisingly soon after the collaboration of the two groups was codified, Elizabeth Ann was presented with much fanfare to the world. She is a clone of Willa, one of the original 18 ferrets, but she died before successfully breeding in captivity.

A special panel discussion, organized by the Draper Natural History Museum last week, revealed how special actions taken decades ago may save the species from a future extinction event.

Former Wyoming game warden Dennie Hammer was among the small team sent to John Hogg’s ranch in 1981 to look for the previously thought extinct ferrets. The family dog, Shep, brought in a dead black-footed ferret that year, essentially alerting the world the species wasn’t extinct after all. 

Arriving at the Hogg Ranch, Hammer and wildlife biologist Conrad Hillman went on a night mission armed with a flashlight. When they first saw the tell-tale signs of ferret eyes reflecting the beams of light, they instantly knew what they had found. 

They went to the burrow where they saw their first ferret. As they looked in the hole, the masked creature showed itself and protested the intrusion.

“Nobody said anything about barking ferrets,” Hammer told the crowd at Coe Auditorium, drawing a laugh. “I just about fell over.”

The two knew the historic value of the discovery. “We both looked at each other and we just started to dance. It was just a fantastic moment. I’ll never forget it,” he said.

They eventually found about 80 ferrets, but over the next four years, the population kept dropping due to sylvatic plague and canine distemper. It became clear something had to be done quickly. 

The remaining ferrets were captured. After securing 17, something told Hammer to do one last search. He went out again and found a single ferret with a scar on his cheek. The team affectionately called him Scarface. 

From there, the last remaining group of black-footed ferrets were moved to a Wyoming Game and Fish Department facility at Sybille Canyon and later transferred to the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center in northern Colorado. The move resulted in some bad feelings between the federal government and residents living in ferret habitat who wanted them to stay in the area, said Dr. Lenox Baker, owner of the Pitchfork Ranch.

“The town of Meeteetse didn’t like it. Some people still grumble about it,” he told the crowd gathered in the Coe Auditorium.

Turning to clones

It turned out Scarface was the only male that would initially breed, mating with seven females. Thanks in part to that last minute decision by Hammer, more than 10,000 black-footed ferrets have been reared since the rescue.

In 1988, Dr. Oliver Ryder, director of conservation genetics at the San Diego Zoo’s Frozen Zoo, collected cell cultures from two deceased black-footed ferrets who had come to the zoo in 1988. The Frozen Zoo is dedicated to saving plants and wildlife worldwide through bioresource banking and research — essentially saving frozen cell cultures for future use. 

Ryder had no crystal ball. Dolly, the first cloned sheep was still a decade away, yet he fully grasped that science would continue to evolve and decided to save the cells without a clear direction in mind.

“We knew then there would be things [in the future] that we couldn’t imagine would be possible to do,” he said.

Now researchers realize the cell cultures of the two dead ferrets, a male and female, hold previously untapped DNA information that could help diversify the breeding program. Elizabeth Ann became the first of any native, endangered animal species in North America to be cloned.

The cloning success was celebrated, but unfortunately Elizabeth Ann is incapable of breeding.

“She had to have a hysterectomy for unfortunate reasons. But we have more genetic twins of Elizabeth Ann in process, and they will be on their way in 2023,” Phelan said.

They hope the cell cultures of the male ferret will also be part of the 2023 research underway. “That would be bringing back two new founders,” she said.

While the process leading to the first cloning was executed relatively fast, it took a while for the nonprofit to gain the trust of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Phelan said. 

“When we first came out, we were kind of the West Coast liberals in the meeting. And we were viewed with great suspect,” she said.

There were questions about the sustainability and level of commitment of the organization, but eventually government officials accepted the plan knowing the future of the species required bold actions. Yet, they continue to be cautious in their actions.

“It’s not like we gave them a blank check for laboratory permits,” said Pete Gober, recovery coordinator for the center. “We’ve got our hand on the throttle.”

Looking ahead

Even if future cloning using domestic ferrets as vessels are successful, the Fish and Wildlife Service controls if offspring from cloned ferrets are released. There are 32 reintroduction sites across the west in eight states, along with Canada and Mexico and the breeders choose if ferrets are ready for the wild and when and how many are reintroduced.

Wednesday afternoon the Conservation Center collaborated with Game and Fish and Fish and Wildlife Services to release 18 wild ferrets on the Pitchfork Ranch. Continued releases are important after a sylvatic plague outbreak in the Meeteetse release area had made previous releases largely ineffective, said Zack Walker, non-game supervisor for the state.

The process to inoculate prairie dogs for diseases and dust for fleas is costly and time consuming. Researchers have found they can vaccinate prairie dogs by offering them peanut butter-flavored, vaccine-laden bait. 

“It appears prairie dog numbers [in Meeteetse] are increasing now. And this year, we actually had documented [ferret] reproduction again, so we’re estimating the populations will be increasing,” Walker said.

The population reintroduced at Shirley-Basin is stable, Walker said. But while more than 10,000 black-footed ferrets have been reared since the species’ rediscovery, their average lifespan is short and good prairie dog habitat is hard to come by. 

Prairie dogs comprise 90% of the diet of black-footed ferrets. A ferret family of four can consume more than 750 prairie dogs per year. The ferrets also utilize prairie dog burrows for shelter and raising families.

Agencies work with private landowners, like the Baker and Hogg families in Meeteetse, to secure rights to grow the much needed habitat and to overcome the negative stigma attached to the rodents. 

“None of this could happen if we didn’t have the cooperation of [private] landowners,” Walker said.

Draper Natural History Museum Interim Curator Corey Anco was thrilled to have the panel discussion at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. 

“It is our goal to combine science and education with the community. And so what better place to host a wide range of speakers, conservationists, ecologists, scientists and geneticists to get the word out and to bring that science to the community than right here,” he said.