Several endangered black-footed ferrets now call Pueblo West ‘home’

PUEBLO WEST, Colo. (KRDO) -- A few of the rarest mammal in North America now calls Pueblo West "home." Friday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife released some black-footed ferrets at a prairie dog colony on the Walker Ranch.

Conservationists have been breeding and reintroducing the ferret population around Southern Colorado since 2013. According to Ed Schmal, a conservation biologist with CPW, the ranch is the perfect place for black-footed ferrets.

"This property is ideal for black-footed ferrets because of the prairie dog population here," explained Schmal. According to Schmal, prairie dogs make up 90% of a black-footed ferret's diet. "We have 1,600 acres of active land on this side of the highway."

CPW also vaccinated the black-footed ferrets, and other ferrets in the area, in hopes of reducing plague and other deadly diseases within animal herds.

Below are photos shared by CPW of Schmal releasing the black-footed ferret on Walker Ranch.

To learn more about black-footed ferrets in Colorado, click here.