Our staff had a great opportunity today to listen to a staff member from the US Fish and Wildlife’s National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado. Heather was visiting the east for work, and stopped before heading back at the Elmwood Park Zoo in Norristown and here at ZooAmerica. While she was here, she checked out our new black-footed ferret exhibit and toured our zoo. She then did a presentation for our staff about the history and future of the black-footed ferrets.
We learned a lot about the breeding efforts to increase the ferret population and their release plans. Did you know that before a ferret can be released back into the wild, first they need a little test run? The Conservation Center has fenced in prairie dog towns to let the ferrets try out before being exposed to the wild. They are protected in there from predators and are given the chance to catch live prey (prairie dogs). After all, if they can’t catch a prairie dog in an enclosed area, they probably wouldn’t do so well in the wild since prairie dogs are 90% of their diet!
It was great for our staff to learn so much about all the conservation efforts that have been made to save the black-footed ferret. Now we can take all we learned and educate our guests about the importance of our animals. Hope you’ll stop in to check out these crazy little creatures!
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January 21, 2010 at 4:44 am
Craig Dayton
Since I tend to be fond of prairie dogs, would you be able to tell us what the other 10% of a ferret’s diet might be?
January 22, 2010 at 8:19 pm
katiezoo
In the wild, they would most likely supplement their diet with bugs and the occasional rodent, like a mouse or rat besides the prairie dogs. I also love the prairie dogs, but if there were no ferrets to help control the prairie dog population, there would be way too many of them!
At our zoo, we feed the ferrets mostly a commerical ground meat along with mice, rats, chicken, and beef liver.
February 5, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Becky Lamb
I had the chance to sit for her lecture at Elmwood Park Zoo and she really was full of excitement and passion for her work, which really hit home to me. I am glad she made a stop at ZooAmerica, I was thinking about you guys!