The US Fish and Wildlife Service has announced an ambitious and expensive effort to protect The Western Rancher from extinction on preserves in Nebraska, Wyoming, and suburban Grotton, Connecticut. The USFW will begin breeding ranchers in captivity for later release onto special government protected preserves. In the past several years the government has launched efforts to save black-footed ferrets and a variety of migratory birds that nest on prairies in the region. Rancorous debate recently broke out over consideration of the common Prairie Dog as an endangered species. Field surveys and results of banding operations of ranchers showed steep declines in the number of farmers and ranchers across the Great Plains.
Biologists blame the decline on a major predator of the species.