Thirty-one black footed ferrets were released Thursday in Colorado
according to a story in Friday's Denver Post.
 
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E226864,00.html
 
Some details:
 
This is the first release in Colorado, where the last confirmed sighting
of the BFF was in 1943.  An estimated 500 BFFs survive after 8 previous
releases in Wyoming, Arizona, Utah, South Dakota and Mexico.
 
The mortality rate for newly released ferrets ranges from 40-90%, and many
conservation groups criticize the Bureau of Land Management for not doing
enough to protect them.
 
The goal is to establish 10 colonies by 2010, with a total population of
1500.
 
Linda Iroff
Oberlin OH
[Posted in FML issue 3604]