Rare ferrets find new home on former toxic site in Denver
Last edited Mon Oct 5, 2015, 08:43 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
By DAN ELLIOTT
DENVER (AP) — About 30 rare black-footed ferrets chattered angrily before ducking into burrows Monday at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge — a milestone for the highly endangered animals and for the former toxic waste site on the industrial edge of Denver.
Once thought extinct, the ferrets were released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the 25-square-mile refuge where chemical weapons and pesticides were once manufactured.
"They're a native species. They belong here," said Kimberly Fraser, an outreach specialist with the reintroduction program.
The land where they were released — an area of short-grass prairie northeast of Denver — became a wildlife refuge in 2010 after a $2.1 billion cleanup. Wildlife workers brought the critters in pet carriers, then released them just above some prairie-dog burrows. The ferrets looked around warily, chattered for a bit and then ducked into the burrows.
FULL story at link.
AP has added 2 photos to the story
From right, Kelly Uhing, of City of Denver Parks and Recreation Department, hauls a carrier containing a black-footed ferret to a release site with Becky Hutchins, center, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Cyndi Karvaski, also of Denver Parks, during a release of 30 of the animals by the government service Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colo. The rare black-footed ferrets were turned loose on the 25-square-mile refuge, which was a former toxic waste site before being reclaimed after a $2.1-billion cleanup. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A black-footed ferret looks out of the entrance to a prairie dog tunnel after being let loose during a release of 30 of the animals by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colo. The rare black-footed ferrets were turned loose on the 25-square-mile refuge, which was a former toxic waste site before being reclaimed after a $2.1-billion cleanup. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d1efa288354d4bff960786c060d88556/rare-ferrets-find-new-home-former-toxic-site-denver
= new reply since forum marked as read
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helpfully,
Bright
how generous of the American people
OK it's better than nothing, I think. Here's hoping the kits are born normal/healthy.
Hulk Ferrets or SpiderFerrets. Remember a few years back when they released all those cats into the woods :
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Super-Hero crime-fighting ferrets.
