Black Footed Ferret Essay, Research Paper

In the past three decades very few endangered species have been restored to

viable populations. The black footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) was believed to

be the most endangered mammal in the united states. It is a small mink sized

carnivore of the Great plains and intermountain basins The ferrets appear to be

obligatory predators on the prairie dogs and once occupied a range essentially

identical to that of the prairie dogs. They prey on them and also use their

burrows for shelter and nesting. The prairie dogs are considered agricultural

pests and competitors with livestock since white settlement first began in the

American west. Large scale rodent control programs were implemented by the state

and federal governments. They drastically reduced the population of prairie dogs

(and other species related to the prairie dog ecosystem) through trapping,

gassing and poisoning. These poisoning programs were considered a major cause of

the ferret?s demise. But, the main cause was the loss of the ferret?s prey

base and appropriate habitat. Their remaining habitat was fragmented thus

leaving the ferret population vulnerable to extinction from various causes

including inability to find mates, inbreeding depression, environmental events,

and disease of ferrets and their prey. The ferrets were believed to be extinct

in 1974, but in 1981 a ferret was discovered in Meeteetsee, Wyoming when a ranch

dog killed an unusual animal eating from its food dish and the rancher took the

carcass to a knowledgeable taxidermist. This was viewed as a rare chance to

recover the species. In 1985, a catastrophic disease struck the small ferret

population, and most remaining animals were taken into captivity. Captive

breeding was initiated, and reintroduction into the wild from the captive

population began in 1991. The ferret is just one of more than 900 species listed

under the Endangered Species act as either threatened or endangered. Over three

thousand more species wait on a list of candidates for such status, but in the

1980s over thirty-four species went extinct while on the waiting list (Cohn,

1993). Is the ferret program representative of the national effort to recover

species? Main body: United States policy on endangered species, including the

ferret and hundreds of other plants and animals, is codified in the 1973

Endangered Species act (ESA ,as amended, U.S. Congress 1983, Bean 1991) . This

piece of legislation sets a national goal the prevention of any further

extinction and the restoration of species currently threatened with extinction.

The ESA is a highly popular piece of legislature because no one would advocate

the killing of an entire species. But the simple goal of saving a species cloaks

a complicated process. The ferret case is a good illustration of how the ESA is

actually outfitted, how and state officials and others tackle the complex work

of restoring species, and how problems come about in nearly all recovery plans.

In short, the ferret rescue is a measure of how the ESA really works. After

finding the small population in Wyoming, in 1981, one might expect a well led

and smoothly coordinated recovery effort to have been quickly organized to save

a species that had been recognized as America?s most endangered mammal. Many

universities, conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, and local

people were willing to help. Collectively they command substantial resources,

not only in terms of money: national and international expertise on population

genetics and small population management, experienced field researchers, tested

breeding facilities, and support staffs from major zoos. All that was needed for

the ferrets to be restored swiftly, professionally, and efficiently was a means

to bring the talent together in a productive well organized program. Under the

ESA, the task of organizing recovery efforts is the responsibility of the

federal government acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the

U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service. Federal officials had numerous options

open to them at the start of the ferret program, one of which was to function

like administrators of a large hospital, pulling together a world-class

professional team, supporting the necessary work with adequate funding,

equipment and facilities, and relying on the team?s judgment to bring about

the patient?s recovery. But this model was not selected. The ferret program

was organized and operated very differently. Section 6 of the ESA requires that

states be involved to the "maximum extent practicable." Early in 1982,

the federal government turned the main responsibility for ferret restoration

over to the state of Wyoming. Almost immediately, problems began to emerge.

Through a formal resolution, the American Society of mammologists (1986:786)

urged "the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wyoming Fish and Game department,

and other state wildlife departments, and numerous and numerous interested

conservation groups to make broader recovery efforts" than those exhibited

by the current program. Miller, Reading, and Forest (Miller et al.1996:208)

identify the FWS as the national agent responsible for maintaining professional

restoration programs. "It is our contention," they write, "that

Region 6, of the FWS, failed to make the ferret recovery a national program. It

may have been easiest for Region 6 to acuiesence to Wyoming?s agenda in the

short term, but the strategy has probably impaired the recovery in the long run.

People, or agencies, in a position to improve conservation should not simply

throw money at a problem, but invest in time and attention as well." The

Wyoming Game and Fish department was interested in doing whatever was necessary

to insure that the ferrets be returned to the wild in Wyoming first, whether or

not Wyoming was the best place to introduce them. There could have been sites in

other states which were better suited for ferret reintroduction, but the

jealousy of the Wyoming Game and Fish department prevents them from considering

such an alternative. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition (1990) concluded that

state-level concerns had taken precedence over national recovery issues. The

Wilderness Society concluded that of the 495 species listed in 1988, only about

16 (3.2 percent) are recovering. Another 18 listed species (3.6 percent) may

have already been extinct. This is a record that fails to demonstrate the basic

promises of the act. The General Accounting Office (1992) added that of sixteen

species removed from the list, five were recovered, seven were extinct, and four

were reclassified because of misinformation. Two federal audits of the ESA

implementation have been conducted. Reviews of the FWS endangered species

program and found that the federal government did not maintain centralized

information needed to determine how well the overall program was operating.

Required recovery plans have not been developed and approved for many species.

In 16 recovery plans that were investigated in depth, nearly half of the tasks

listed had not been undertaken even though the plans had been approved, on

average, more than four years earlier. Fws officials attributed this to shortage

of funds, "the inspector general of the Interior department has lambasted

his federal colleagues at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, charging that they

may be sending species to extinction" (Holden1990). Conclusion: The

destruction of other life forms because of the actions of people is a problem

with profound biological, ecological, economic, and ethical dimensions. We must

assume that a healthy biosphere is in the common interest of humanity.

Appreciation of the fundamental importance and far-sightedness of the Endangered

Species Act and other biodiversity protection policies has grown over the last

two decades, but that has neither prevented nor appreciably slowed the

extinction crisis. Around the globe, the problem of extinction is extreme and

growing, with perhaps scores of species disappearing everyday. The ESA is

potentially a powerful tool to better the extinction crisis, and in many ways

has served as a global model. But despite its value both substantively and

symbolically, there are problems with it, as both the biological and political

trends of the past years attest. Implementation has fallen short of promise.

Protecting species under the ESA is a long , complex process. Once species are

recognized as deserving of protection and are listed, conservation programs must

be designed, approved, and then implemented. Almost four thousand species in the

United States now wait to be afforded the basic protections of the ESA; several

hundred, many of them plants may already be extinct. Beyond the listing process,

there are innumerable steps, activities and processes that make up the ESA

implementation. The extinction problem in the U.S. and the world is apparently

growing faster than practical policy responses can be generated to stop it. The

black footed ferret was a good example for showing how there are problems with

the conservation process and limitations of conventional approaches. The ferret

restoration program was fraught with problems, which has added to its notoriety

in the public eye and the scientific and conservation communities. If we are to

improve the policy-making process for conserving biodiversity, we must

acknowledge the problem openly, honestly, and realistically. We must turn our

knowledge of saving species and take turn it into more effective, more efficient

conservation gains. In other words, we must reconstruct the endangered species

recovery process.

710

American Society of Mammologists. 1986. Recovery and

restoration of the black footed ferret. Journal of mammology 67:786. Bean,

M.J.1983. The evolution of national wildlife law. Prager, New York. Cohn,

J.P.1993. Defenders of biodiversity. Government executive national journal,

April:18-22 General accounting office. 1988. Endangered species: Management

improvements could enhance recovery programs. GAO/RCED 89-5. GPO, Washington.

Holden, C.1990. Ecology hero in the interior department. Science 250:620-621.

Miller, B.J., R. Reading, C. Conway, J.A. Jackson, M.A. Hutchins, N. Snyder, S.

Forest, J. Frazier, and S. Derricson. 1994. Improving endangered species

programs: Avoiding organizational pitfalls, tapping the resources, and adding

accountability. Environmental Management 18:637-645. Reffault, W. 1991. The

endangered species lists: Chronicles of extinction? P.77-75. Island Press,

Washington.