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	Podcast:		Local Features by WXPR
	Episode:		Cloning Endangered Species
	Category:		Government & Organizations
	Duration:		00:05:03
	Publish Date:		2021-03-08 11:08:56
	Description:		News is just coming to light about a momentous wildlife management event from last December. It involves a little black-footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann, who along with a horse named Kurt, inspired this week’s Wildlife Matters. Black-footed ferrets have had a long, slow road back from the brink of total extinction. They are victims of their prey; prairie dogs were the target of farmers and ranchers on the prairie shot them, poisoned them, and destroyed their colonies early in the last century. To make matters worse, an exotic disease plague suppressed their numbers even more. By some estimates, the populations of prairie dogs were reduced from their original levels by as much as 95%. Sadly, the loss of the prey resulted in the loss of their primary predator, which didn’t have a suitable alternate prey species, and their numbers crashed. The ferret has the unfortunate distinction of being on the very first list of endangered species under the 1966 Endangered Species Preservation Act.
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