There's vampires in Arizona. No, we're not talking about bloodsuckers of the undead. I'm referring to black-footed ferrets. For the first time in nearly 30 years, the animals have returned to the state.
It's a big win for animal conservationists. A ferret plague basically wiped out the animals in the state. It was a sylvatic plague that affected the population, devastating the black-footed ferrets. But in recent years, scientists have managed to isolate and manage the plague.
Recently, the Arizona Game and Fish Department bred 10 ferrets in captivity. They then released the animals in the Aubrey Valley region. Although the number seems small, it will give researchers a good idea of how they survive and will play an important role in repopulating the species in the state.
Scientists gave the animals their best chances of survival, teaching them how to hunt. They also got vaccinations against potential diseases such as the plague. So where's the vampire in it all? Well, researchers have nicknamed black-footed ferrets "little vampires." The predators have fangs and also hunt at night. So they're practically little vampires.
Black-Footed Ferrets
"We couldn't begin to re-establish this population without understanding the ferret die-off," explained senior small mammal management specialist Holly Hicks.
Identifying the exact strain of the plague was an important part of rehabilitating the species. They learned that the plague also started to affect prairie dogs in the region as well. They learned that fleas played a role in transmitting the disease as well. Ferrets struggled to survive the disease.
"It was starting to become obvious that it was a prey base issue," said Hicks. "So in 2020, we switched to a disease treatment study of the prairie dogs."
To help prevent the spread of the disease, conservationists started using flea treatments. They also microchipped the animals so that they can study them better.
As for what the future holds, scientists plan to release more ferrets into the wild in the coming years. They have releases scheduled for the next three years. We'll see how they do in the wild.
