An endangered weasel is returning to an area of western Wyoming where the critter almost went extinct more than 30 years ago.
Biologists plan to release 35 black-footed ferrets today near Meeteetse (me-TEET’-see). Scientists thought the black-footed ferret was extinct until a dog brought a dead one home near Meeteetse in 1981.
The discovery made tiny Meeteetse famous as the home of the slinky, nocturnal weasel. Black-footed ferrets appear on the town logo, in a downtown sculpture and even on coffee mugs in a local restaurant. But they’ve vanished from the wild around the town.
Biologists captured Meeteetse’s last ferrets for a captive-breeding program that has released hundreds of ferrets in the western U.S. Today’s release will be the first one back at the very spot where the black-footed ferret made its last stand in the wild.
