The kits are doing really well. The field team took a hands-off position for at least five days after the births, in an effort not to stress the female and give her time to care for her young. Females curl around their young to thermal-regulate and nurse them. Placing them in acclimation pens help the animals adjust as they transfer from life in captive breeding sites to reintroduction sites. By placing the ferrets in the pens within the prairie dog colonies near Seligman, a better chance of survival is expected, Van Pelt said.
Prairie dogs are their natural prey.
Reintroduction efforts for black-footed ferrets in Arizona were initiated at the Aubrey Valley in late March 1996 after an absence of over 65 years. Forty ferrets were released into the wilds that fall. Of the 26 kits born to this endangered species in the AGFD acclimation pens last June, nine were released into the wild last fall. Some were held for breeding purposes. Black-footed ferrets are one of the rarest mammals in the world.