Black Footed Ferret Reintroduction Will Close Prairie Dog Hunting

J

JeremyKS

New member
I wanted to inform everybody that Texas Parks and Wildlife is spearheading a reintroduction of the Black Footed Ferret on the Rita Blanca National Grasslands. If they do this under their current proposal it would shut down 50% of the prairie dog hunting currently available to public hunters.

We need to spread the word about this. Contact Texas State officials and TPWD personnel and voice your opinion about this.

To give you a little history about the black footed ferret; It was once thought to be extinct till a small population was discovered in Wyoming. Through a captive breeding program they started reintroducing them in 1991. In order to get them delisted they must have 3000 ferrets living in the wild. Since 2008 they have released almost 2500 ferrets.

Currently they estimate 400-500 living in the wild. They are currently spending about $44000 -$55000 per ferret with a $1,000,000 per year budget.

This project is headed by the Black-Footed Ferret Working Group, which consists of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Wildlife Services, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Texas Agri-Life Extension and researchers from Texas Tech and West Texas A&M Universities.

I personally don't care if they are trying to reintroduce the ferret but do it on private land that doesn't affect the public.
 
Sean Kyle sean.kyle@tpwd.state.tx.us is the Texas state biologist in charge of this.



I know he is busy with the Lesser Prairie Chicken deal and may not be aware of the concern from the public and needs to be. I encourage everybody to email him and let him know your thoughts.


sean.kyle@tpwd.state.tx.us
 
I posted this on 24ch, and a google search for "conata basin plague" brings great results:

These geniuses who tinker with Nature should be made aware of the happenings in the Conata Basin by the SD Badlands.

Introduction of ferrets and a shooting (and poison) ban led to a hefty overpopulation which then was an easy mark for the plague.

Some internet research should yield results. I had seen a newspaper at the time showing workers dusting burrows in an attempt to control fleas which carry the plague.

HM
 
I used to shoot the Conada Basin many years ago.

Then I went back one summer and there was nothing... I mean NOTHING for 30,000 acres!

They reintroduced the PD for a food source for the ferrets, and the cycle began - PDs, over population, plague, no food, reintriduce PDs, over population, plague, and on and on...
 
Originally Posted By: RustHunter "They are currently spending about $44000 -$55000 per ferret"

WHAT!??
scared.gif


Now bad wages for putting some ferret poop under a microscope and gawking at it for a few minutes.
 
Originally Posted By: possumalCan anyone give an example of how the math works on this? That is an awfully high cost per ferret.

The math is the same as all government projects - like Obama's stimulus bill - the cost ran from $230,000 to $1,300,000..PER JOB!!!
But hey, it wasn't their money, so what the helll.

You hire some black footed ferret experts for $150,000 (times 5 experts)... some "ve-hic-uls" to carry all the food and stuff - some diggin' machines to help the little ferrets get started in their burrows (and union machine operators to run them... on over time), and get a load of wild life photographers to document the whole thing.

After a while, your're talkin' some real money.

It is obvious by your question, that you have never worked on a government grant... it is money city.

 
Nice information you have provided here. There are vary few persons who used to do so like you. By this, it may save time for who wants to go there. But now a days it is rumor that this ban has been lifted. Have you heard about it.
 
AZ has been doing Black Footed Ferret re-introductions since 1996. The reintroduction efforts here were initiated under a 10(j) permit from the USFWS, which designates the population as experimental and nonessential. This classification allows reintroduction efforts to occur without effecting land use practices, including hunting and ranching. The money for the project comes from the Heritage Fund which gets its proceeds from the AZ lottery. There is no way the annual budget for ferrets in AZ would be that high.

There are 17 black-footed ferret reintroduction sites that exist throughout the western United States and Mexico.

http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/blackfooted_ferret.shtml
 
It cost $1,000,000 per pair . They have guards, lights , and cameras. With all that an eagle will come along and snatch the ferret. OR the dog town will plague out and they die...
 


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