Calgary Zoo participates in third black-footed ferret release (CANADA)

For the third year in a row, on October 18th, Calgary Zoo staff along with participants from Parks Canada, Toronto Zoo, Husky Energy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment and over 75 local-area students helped to release fifteen black-footed ferrets into Grasslands National Park. The ferrets began their journey nearly 20 hours earlier at the Ferret Conservation Centre in Colorado and were driven throughout the night by U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo staff. As the sun was setting over the prairies, the captive bred ferrets were transported by release teams to eight different prairie dog colonies within and around the Park.

This summer Calgary Zoo staff with the Husky Energy Endangered Species Program also joined in the annual monitoring of black-footed ferrets by spending a week in Grasslands National Park looking for captive released adults and their kits. High powered spotlights are used to locate ferrets during the night and are identified by their emerald green eye shine. The ferrets are then trapped, implanted with microchips, vaccinated and given an overall health check up. Over the two weeks of spotlighting, Recovery Partners and volunteer ferret trackers confirmed at least 12 ferrets and celebrated the discovery of three new wild born litters, each on separate colonies. Another reason to celebrate is that 2011 marks the 30th Anniversary of the re-discovery of black-footed ferrets in North America.

Since 2006, the Calgary Zoo has been working in partnership with Parks Canada to monitor ferrets throughout the year as well as to study the population dynamics of prairie dogs, the primary food source for ferrets. This information is used not only to manage the sustainability of the prairie dog population, but also to help guide ferret recovery by identifying preferred ferret release sites and determining the appropriate number of ferrets to release each year.