>From: Andy Abate <[log in to unmask]> >To: Gary Holowicki <[log in to unmask]> NBC television news reported tonight that 15 endangered black-footed ferrets died yesterday at the National Biological Service BFF research facility at Pueblo, CO. The cause, as reported, was "contaminated" food. The source of contamination was euthanized prairie dogs which were infected with sylvatic plague. Prairie dogs kept at the facility for food are subjected to a ten day quarantine under normal circumstances. It is unknown at this time if the suspect food had been properly quarantined. According to Dean Biggins of the NBS and supervisor of the Pueblo project, every animal died within a couple of hours with the exception of a few newly arrived young animals slated to be pre- conditioned in outdoor pens prior to release into the wild. This in the second such known tragedy at the Pueblo facility within the past three months. On August 28, 1995, seven irreplaceable young kits died during routine transport from the Wyoming breeding facility to Pueblo. They were transported in oven-like boxes on a hot day. Although the vehicle was air-conditioned, this was inadequate for their survival. It is speculated that the animals were not monitored during the five hour trip as it is virtually impossible to do so in those types of containers. The Society for the Protection and Conservation of the Black-Footed Ferret deplores the continuing disasters with these rare animals. A proposal for the housing of non-releasable BFFs submitted by the Society in October of this year, and which would have saved the lives of most of the animals which died in this latest tragedy, remains in limbo with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service while they contemplate whether the Society can care for the animals as well as the Service and its associated facilities can. This question can best be answered by stating that the two individuals who ran the Pueblo facility for four years, and who were terminated as a result of the protest over release of unsuitable animals, are the same ones who propose to operate and oversee the proposed care Cent er. During their tenure at Pueblo, only one resident ferret was lost. Her cause of death was undiagnosed even during necropsy but her health status had been reported several times as being precarious due to apparent immunodifficiency. Although many health problems were encountered during this tenure, they were dealt with immediately due to the expertise of the now-absent staff. Young kits produced during this same tenure still survive at a rate of 44% in the wild, and several females have produced kits of their own this past Spring. This is far and away the highest survivorship ever achieved during the history of the BFF recovery effort and is due in great part to the innovative techniques conceived by Dean Biggins and developed and implemented by the former staff and Biggins. We most urgently request the support of all of you who were so instrumental in stopping last summer's release of unsuitable ferrets so that we may at least preserve the lives of those specific animals which continue to reside in peripheral conditions instead of the security of the proposed care center. Older animals have still been included in this year's release although it is being done in small numbers and in a discreet fashion. It has not escaped our attention. One of these mature animals has already been listed as deceased. Although the BFF program is currently under "restructuring", the theory of quantity over quality persists. The result is dead ferrets and lots of them, with little regard for the rarity and fragility of this species. In addition, there is no sign that there is any intention to pursue the only methodology which has thus far proved successful (i.e. the methodology developed at the Pueblo facility) Instead, there is persistence in following low-survival percentage and untried kit-rearing and-release strategies rather than first fully exploring the Pueblo method, which is the most promising to date. It must constantly be emphasized--and this is the very point that seems to be consistently disregarded by the Service and cooperating agencies--that we don't have a limitless number of these rare animals. The continuing losses of animals at Pueblo, coupled with the protested releases last summer, amount to 52 endangered animals , to the best of our information. Although it has been suggested that our numbers are not always accurate, we assure you that we make diligent attempts to obtain the correct information and that we do not always receive the cooperation needed to achieve this accuracy. In most cases, we speculate that we err on the conservative side. We continue to fully support the captive breeding, full conditioning by Pueblo methods, and release of kits (young ferrets fully grown but under one year of age) into the wild under monitored conditions. If this cannot be achieved with the animals seemingly most suited to survival, there seems little point to risking the lives of older animals, which seem less responsive to conditioning experiments. The Society has been relatively quiet in its posts on the Internet. We have been busy developing funding for the care center and for a privately-financed breeding facility. While we have had some very encouraging results, details will be forthcoming at a later date. It is time for your reactions to be felt once again. There is no doubt that faxes have the greatest impact. Please send them most urgently to: Mr. Ralph Morgenweck, Dir. Region 6, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. box 25486, Denver, CO 80226 FAX 303-236-3815 MR. Bruce Blanchard, Acting Dir., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1849 C St.,N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240 FAX 202-208-9695=20 Mr. Bruce Babbitt, same address as Blanchard, FAX 202-208-5048 Mr. Michael Hutchins, American Zoo and Aquarium Association, 7970-D Old Georgetown Rd., Bethesda, MD 20814 FAX 301-907-2980 USFWS toll free abuse hotline: 1-800-424-5081 NOTE: We apologize for slowness of membership cards. We struggle with funding and cards are coming out of L.A. in 3 weeks. Please send in your SASE for free membership--all cards going out ASAP. We must persist now more than ever. We need your support and anticipate your continuing response. The Society will soon have its own home page and we hope you will all access it regularly and offer us your input.. We are glad to finally be on-line (CompuServe) thanks to Gary Holowicki. e-mail us at (from Internet): [log in to unmask]; (within Compuserve) 103211,3070 Violence is not strength, Compassion is not weakness. From Camelot. [Posted in FML issue 1388]