Enjoyable "This American Land" episode about Black-Footed Ferrets

"This American Land" is a wildlife series shown on public television. From their website: "Opening windows to our country’s amazing natural heritage, we report engaging stories on America’s landscapes, waters and wildlife – taking our viewers to the front lines of conservation, science and outdoor adventure with stories that inform and entertain."

 

Episode 203, starting at 7:40, is an excellent segment about a Colorado breeding program reintroducing black-footed ferrets to the wild:

Ferrets for Obama Reminding Everyone to Vote

 

For more information about early voting, local voting locations and general voting information

in Florida, visit the Florida Division of Elections website

Bring your ferret (or dog or cat) to Dolphin Mall to see Santa

I don't know about your fuzzies, but mine love Christmas, so we will be visiting Dolphin Mall for their 5th annual "Pet Nights with Santa." On December 14th or 21st, from 7:30 pm to 9 pm, pet owners can bring their critters to the Ice Palace, located on the 2nd floor of the Ramblas area, for pictures with Santa.

Visitors can select from an array of state-of-the art digital photographs offered during the traditional photos with Santa. Dolphin Mall’s holiday partnership with Snapfish offers customers a unique and user-friendly digital photo experience. The site allows shoppers to quickly share, organize and design photo gifts including holiday cards, calendars, ornaments and photo books. Shoppers can use their photos with Santa and the Ice Throne to create photo gifts. Pet owners will receive a free bowl with the purchase of a photo package on the dates/times indicated, while supplies last. Pets must be up-to-date on their vaccinations and must either be on a leash or carried in a lightweight, portable pet carrier with harness.

I already know what Bandit will be asking for... his own supply of "Bandits Banana Flavored Treats."

A new video: The Ferret Capers

Ferrets, like small children, prefer the box their toy came in rather than the toy itself. Here are Bandit and Little Willie enjoying a box full of packing peanuts.

Xylitol (sugar substitute) Can Be Deadly to Ferrets

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a new warning about the dangers of the sugar-substitute "xylitol" for ferrets and dogs:

"Xylitol is a sugar alcohol approved for use in many common products, including sugar-free baked goods, candy, oral hygiene products, and chewing gum.


Xylitol can be found in many over-the-counter drugs such as chewable vitamins and throat lozenges and sprays. It can also be purchased in bulk bags for use in home baking. These products are intended only for human use.


The FDA reports included clinical signs such as a sudden drop in blood sugar (hypoglycemia), seizures and liver failure. If you suspect your pet has ingested xylitol, some signs to look for are depression, loss of coordination and vomiting. The signs of illness may occur within minutes to days of ingesting xylitol. Owners should consult their veterinarian or pet poison control center immediately for advice if they know or suspect that their pet has ingested a human product containing xylitol."

My furry five live by the motto "Leave No Glass Unturned" and, like all ferrets, love to get into everything. But with a Type I diabetic daughter almost everything in the house is sugar-free, so I will certainly be checking labels and being even more cautious than before.

Arizona Reporter » Black-Footed Ferret, Recovery Efforts Require Volunteers

I wish I lived near Arizonia right now because volunteers needed for the Black-footed ferret recovery efforts:

Arizona Reporter » Black-Footed Ferret, Recovery Efforts Require Volunteers

...March 17-21, Game and Fish will be conducting its annual spring spotlighting effort and needs volunteers to help document black-footed ferret numbers throughout the Aubrey Valley, just west of Seligman.


"Volunteers have always played a vital role in this recovery effort," said Jeff Pebworth, wildlife program manager at the Game and Fish Kingman office. "We don't have the personnel available to fully staff these events, and the program's continued success depends on people remaining involved."


Those wishing to volunteer, or needing more information, should e-mail azferret@azgfd.gov by March 11 with "March Spotlighting" in the subject line. Individuals should indicate which night(s) they are available to help; include a first and last name, a contact number, and if anyone else will be attending with them.


Additional information will be sent following contact, including meeting location and times.


Volunteers should also note any of the following equipment they can bring: GPS, clipboard, backpack (to carry a 30-pound battery), headlamp, pen, compass, binoculars, walkie-talkies, 4x4 vehicle (please list passenger capacity), compass, spotlight (that can plug into a cigarette lighter), or a cordless rechargeable spotlight.

If you join the volunteer effort, please write me about your experiences.

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC in Miami, Florida and a member of the US Green Building Council. She is a designated Eco-Broker and a long-time member of the Sierra Club. She shares her home with her daughter and five domesticated ferrets. You can visit her website at www.MelanieSellsMiami.com or follow her on Twitter @MelanieDawnMW

"Return of the Prairie Bandit" documentary to air February 10 on CBC's "Nature of Things"

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's version of PBS in the US, will air filmmaker Kenton Vaughan's documentary "Return of the Prairie Bandit" on Thursday, February10, at 8:00 p.m. on "The Nature of Things."

This dramatic story of the ferrets’ reintroduction to the wild unfolds in Return of the Prairie Bandit, a new documentary by Kenton Vaughan set in the stunning prairie of southern Saskatchewan... At Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan, Canada’s last refuge for prairie dogs, the painstaking, precarious campaign to bring the ferret back is underway. Shot over the course of one year, Returnof the Prairie Bandit is a fascinating look at the ups and downs of this campaign set against the sweeping, stark beauty of the park.


The film charts the progress made by wildlife biologist Travis Livieri who is spearheading the black-footed ferret revival in North America. Alongside Parks Canada staff, he directs the release of the animal onto prairie dog colonies, and returns each season to check on their survival rate. At each turn, the ferrets face seemingly catastrophic challenges, from an unseasonably harsh winter to plague.

The show will air again on Thursday, February 17, at 10 pm ET/PT. For US audiences, visit "The Nature of Things" CBC website to watch online, and don't miss the video clip of a black-footed ferret happy dance. All of us who know and love our domesticated ferrets are familiar with this joyful little dance, and it made me laugh out loud to see their wild cousins dancing, too.

In a related story, the Canadian Wildlife Service and Park Canada set up motion activated cameras in the Grasslands National Park in November 2009. The original purpose was to see when the burrowing owls returned, so staff were surprised when black-footed ferrets showed up too. The next summer, Calgary Zoo staff used the same remote cameras to count prairie dogs and once again captured images of black-footed ferrets. Visit the CBC's Documentaries web page to see clips of the black-footed ferrets and other wildlife.

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC in Miami, Florida and a member of the US Green Building Council. She is a designated Eco-Broker and a long-time member of the Sierra Club. She shares her home with her daughter and five domesticated ferrets. You can visit her website at www.MelanieSellsMiami.com or follow her on Twitter @MelanieDawnMW

Ferret lobby's new argument: Legalization would save California money - San Jose Mercury News

An Environmental Impact Report by the Sacramento State University showing that domesticated ferrets are not a threat to indigenous wildlife didn't work. Perhaps appealing to California State's budgetary woes will.

Ferret lobby's new argument: Legalization would save California money - San Jose Mercury News

Short on cash and support in California's Legislature and stymied by procedural requirements at the Fish and Game Commission, a coalition of ferret legalization supporters is hoping to gain traction with a new argument on the cost of the state's ban...

Estimates on the state's illegal ferret population vary significantly, but pet industry experts estimate one-quarter of ferret supplies sold in the country come from California shelves.

Legalization proponents say those numbers show the state is missing out on revenue from sales of ferrets, which cost more than $100 apiece, and startup food and supplies, often bought when the owner purchases the pet in Nevada or other neighboring states.

"There's the cage, there's the food, there's the litter pans," said West Coast Ferrets Association member Debby Greatbanks. "It's a good $500 investment."...

"I don't think there's any doubt that there would be a positive economic impact for California, for California businesses and for revenue for California," said Michael Maddox, vice president of government relations for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.

What do you think?

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC in Miami, Florida and a member of the US Green Building Council. She is a designated Eco-Broker and a long-time member of the Sierra Club. She shares her home with her daughter and five domesticated ferrets. You can visit her website at www.MelanieSellsMiami.com or follow her on Twitter @MelanieDawnMW

A Very Ferrety Christmas - 2010

Happy Holidays!

How To Wrap A Christmas Gift (With a Ferret in the House)

Just ran across this on the 'net and it reminded me so much of the last few days around our house, I had to share:

1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.
2. Go to closet and collect bag in which present is contained, and shut door.
3. Open door and remove ferret from closet.
4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
5. Go back and remove ferret from cupboard.
6. Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc...
7. Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove ferret that has been in the drawer since last visit and collect string.
9. Remove present from bag.
10. Remove ferret from bag.
11. Open box to check present, remove ferret from box, replace present.
12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
13. Try and smooth out paper, realize ferret is underneath and remove ferret.
14. Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.
15. Throw away first sheet as ferret chased the scissors, and tore the paper.
16. Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting ferret in the bag the present came in.
17. Place present on paper.
18. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach. Realize ferret is between present and paper. Remove ferret.
19. Place object on paper, to hold in place while tearing transparent sticky tape.
20. Spend 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from ferret with pair of nail scissors.
21. Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
22. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase ferret down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.
23. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.
24. Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to ferret's enthusiastic ribbon chase.
25. Repeat steps 13-20 until you reach last sheet of paper.
26. Decide to skip steps 13-17 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper.
27. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.
28. Put present in box, and tie down with string.
29. Remove sting, open box and remove ferret.
30. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for locked room.
31. Once inside lockable room, lock door and start to relay out paper and materials.
32. Remove ferret from box, unlock door, put ferret outside door, close and relock.
33. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear ferret from outside door)
34. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best)
35. Discover ferret has already torn paper.
36. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper.
37. Remember that you haven't got any left because ferret helped with this last year as well.
38. Return to lockable room, lock door, and sit on toilet and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.
39. Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas. Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.
40. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed ferret.
41. Spend 15 minutes looking for ferret until coming to obvious conclusion.
42. Unwrap present, untie box and remove ferret.
43. Go to store and buy a gift bag.

~~Author Unknown

But now you know why the paper is always wrinkled and the gift is always late!

Happy Christmas!

Nap Time for Bandit

Ferrets vs Logan County - Ferrets win thanks to Larry Haverfield

Thank you, Mr. Haverfield!

The state judge ruled against Logan County, which sought to exterminate the prairie dog population on a private 10,000-acre ranch. Poisoning off the prairie dogs, which are the favorite prey of the black-footed ferret population that was reintroduced to the ranch in 2007, would have been a death sentence to the ferrets.


Ninety-eight percent of the prairie dog population of the Great Plains has been wiped out, and the remaining 2 percent are still subject to the “kill them all” statute put into play in 1901, when a pre-conservation mindset saw the near extermination of the state’s whitetail and mule deer, wild turkeys, bison, pronghorn elk and prairie dogs.

This article raises some additional questions for me too, though:

The ranchers’ legal battles started in 2008 when they refused to allow Logan County exterminators to poison the prairie dogs on their property. A district judge recognized that the FSW had defined the ranch as a promising site for reintroduction of black-footed ferrets and slapped the county with a restraining order.

Logan County tried to repeal that ruling, but on Sept. 20 Judge Jack Lively ruled that the restraining order would stand. The Haverfield-Barnhardt ranch and the 90-feet vegetative boundary that surrounds it are permanently off-limits to poisoning.

Why was Logan County attempting to apply poison to Mr. Haverfield's privately owned land? As I see it, Mr. Haverfield not only stood up for the black-footed ferrets, he stood up for private land rights and against putting poison into our habitats.

Broward Ferret Rescue & Referral Announces 2nd Annual Ferret Spooktactular

The event will be held Saturday, October 16th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Lauderdale Surf Club, 2 Palm Avenue, Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida. Admission is $7.00 per person with proceeds going to support the Ferret Rescue.

Although our ferrets can not attend this particular event, be sure to bring photos of your favorite fuzzies in costume. Prizes will be awarded for "Best Costume" in both the Ferret and Human catagories. (Costumes for the humans are not required but highly encouraged) There will also be food, games, a raffle and a guest speaker - a fun night for a good cause.

The Broward Ferret Rescue & Referral is a small "no kill" shelter founded in 2000. In 2004, it became a 501c3 non-profit organization so your donations are tax deductible. PETCO, ZuPreem and many other corporate sponsors help support the Rescue and its events. Additional support comes from individual memberships, and from fundraising events such as the Annual Ferret Spooktacular.

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood: "I connected Blogger to my http://flavors.me page - http://flavors.me/melaniedawn"

Ferrets, LED lighting and Wind Cave National Park - Oh My!

It is not often that I can write about two of my favorite subjects in one blog post, but Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota allows me to do just that.

Wind Cave was the first cave in the world to be designated as a national park. Opened in 1903 it is currently the fourth longest cave in the world, and explorers are still discovering new passage ways. The cave system is also known for its “boxwork, an unusual cave formation composed of thin calcite fins resembling honeycombs. ”

On July 4th, 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service employees reintroduced black-footed ferrets to a small prairie section of the 28,295 acres of mixed-grass prairie and ponderosa pine forest that make up the above ground area of the national park. At the time, acting superintendent Rick Mossman was quoted as saying, “It has been thirty years since the last sighting of a black-footed ferret in Wind Cave National Park. We hope this is the start of a self sustaining population that will restore a missing link to our mixed-grass prairie ecosystem.”

A year later, park superintendent Vidal Davila reported fourteen kits were counted in the primary reintroduction areas during four nights of surveying. And last year, park rangers began offering summer night hikes to educate visitors and, if they are lucky, so they can see the Black-Footed Ferrets in the wild.

And in June of this year, the park replaced the cave’s incandescent lighting system with LEDs. The $2 million project was paid for entirely from park ticket sales. It is expected to reduce the lighting bill by about 80% and helps cut back on the algae growth generated by the heat of the old incandescent lights. As an added bonus the LEDs highlight the true colors inside the cave.



For more information about Wind Cave National Park, visit http://www.nps.gov/wica/

Baby Sea Turtles Rescued From the Gulf Oil Spill, Relocated to Florida's Space Coast

Reprinted with permission:

Have Prairie Dog, Will Travel

The Thunder Basin National Grassland in Wyoming is the site of a new recovery habitat for North America’s most endangered mammal, the Black-Footed Ferret. But before any ferrets can be introduced, conservationists need to ensure that the eco-system will support them. To do that, the U.S. Forest Service began relocating black-tailed prairie dogs to the area in July and continuing through August.

The black-tailed prairie dogs have long been considered pests to ranchers, making them the target of mass poisonings and sport shooting. Consequently, prairie dog populations plummeted which in turn caused a decline in species that eat them, especially the black-footed ferret.

So now a team of federal agencies and conservation organizations including the U.S. Forest Service, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Defenders of Wildlife, The Humane Society of the United States, World Wildlife Fund, and the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance are relocating prairie dogs from two sites considered too close to private land to the Thunder Basin National Grassland area. This prairie dog relocation effort is the first of its kind on U.S. Forest Service land, and Forest Service agents hope to reintroduce the black-footed ferrets as soon as 2011.

Stamps to the Rescue!

Stamps to the Rescue!

The other day a friend of mine brought this news article to my attention:

Va. police find ferret in the mail


Stamps the ferret was shipped from a Lynchburg post office in a cardboard box stuffed with food, toy cars and a doll. The destination was a town near San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Stamps may have made it there -- had he stopped wiggling.


A postal inspector, David McKinney, got the call about it at his Roanoke office on the afternoon of Monday, April 5, hours after Stamps and the package had been deposited and $63.55 was paid for overnight delivery.


“The box was dropped off at 2 p.m., and it started moving about 5 p.m.,” McKinney said. “Periodically, it would just vibrate. The postal workers put their hand on the box and it kind of freaked them out.”

The story ended well, though:

McKinney took the ferret to the Roanoke Regional Center for Animal Control and Protection, where the fur ball stayed 13 days. On Monday he was moved to the Roanoke Valley SPCA, where attendants started calling him Stamps and he was put up for adoption.


“You'd be surprised. Some people just have a thing for ferrets,” said Bill Watson, executive director of the Roanoke Valley SPCA.


Indeed. Stamps clawed Wednesday onto the polo shirt of a ferret fan, Craig Bradley, who paid the $25 adoption fee and took him home to join the 16 ferrets in his house near Bonsack. (Bradley and his wife are co-founders of the Big Lick Ferret Shelter & Hospice.)

So imagine my surprise when I saw this headline today:

Stamps to the Rescue!

My first thought was, of course, Stamps the ferret! In actuality, though, it is the new stamp series issued last month by the U.S. Post Office to

“continue a Postal Service tradition of bringing attention to serious social issues of the day … one letter at a time,” said Potter. “This campaign will increase public awareness about sheltered pets and our hope is that it will encourage pet adoption and promote humane and responsible pet care.”

Now, if only the stamp series included a photo of Stamps the Ferret.

Black-Footed Ferret Populations Increasing in the AVEPA

Did you know that black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes), one of North America’s most endangered mammals, was once so elusive they were thought to have never existed?

In 1851, naturalist John James Audubon first described black-footed ferrets from a single specimen. For the next 25 years no other specimens were found, nor were there any other sightings in the wild. Even the original specimen disappeared leading to speculation that no such animal had ever existed!

Luckily Dr. Elliot Coues was able to document additional specimens in 1874. They disappeared again in 1974 and were feared to be extinct. In 1981 a small group were discovered in Wyoming, then nearly wiped out by canine distemper just a few years later.

But black-footed ferrets are coming back from the brink of extinction… again! And Arizona’s Game and Fish Department is an important part of that effort. Arizona’s reintroduction effort is helping to establish a free-ranging, self-sustaining population of black-footed ferrets in the Aubrey Valley Experimental Population Area (AVEPA), with a second ferret reintroduction site planned. Last month’s count shows record gains in AVEPA’s black-footed ferret population.

Game and Fish personnel along with a record 103 volunteers (including 61 in one night) worked from dusk to dawn from March 25-29 spotlighting for the nocturnal black-footed ferret.

“It’s exciting news,” said Jeff Corcoran, supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s black-footed ferret recovery effort in Seligman. “The results and the interest level provide hope for the continued success in the recovery of this endangered animal.”

The crew had 54 captures overall (42 individual ferrets with 12 being captured more than once), and 17 were captured in one night. All established new highs for the project. Of the 42 individuals, 29 had never before been trapped.

“We’ve never caught that many ferrets before, and we did so before this year’s breeding and reproduction,” Corcoran said.

A total of 60 never previously captured wild-born ferrets, were trapped in two spotlighting efforts in 2009.

“I’m excited about the numbers,” Corcoran said. “You think about this one spotlighting effort and compare it to where the ferrets once were and you can’t help but be pleased.”

According to BlackFootedFerret.org:

The 1988 Recovery Plan for the black-footed ferret calls for the establishment of 10 or more separate, free-ranging wild populations. By the year 2010, biologists hope to have 1500 ferrets established in the wild, with no fewer than 30 breeding adults in each population. If these objectives are met, the ferret could be downlisted from endangered to threatened status.

The fall spotlighting in the AVEPA will take place in October. If you are interested in volunteering, contact the black-footed ferret field station at azferret@azgfd.govto receive more information. And be sure to write to me about your experience!

Search Amazon.com for black-footed ferrets

April 2, 2010 - National Ferret Day

Did you know that today is National Ferret Day? I didn’t either until I looked at my Petco Foundation  calendar this morning. But a quick google search reveals that National Ferret Day has been on the National Special Events Registry since 1995!

So in honor of Bam, our little bundle of snuggles that left us too soon, the others have come up with a list of ways to celebrate National Ferret Day:

As a rescued ferret himself, Dude would like for you to visit “Support Our Shelters” to find a ferret rescue & shelter organization near you. With thousands of ferrets in shelters all over the country, these organizations gladly welcome donations of time, money and supplies. Tell them Dude sent you.

As our most senior ferret, Robyn’s hope for National Ferret Day is that everyone becomes more educated about ferret care. Ferrets are totally different from the caged rodents they are too often mistaken for, yet their needs are also very different from those of dogs and cats. Robyn thinks that the best holiday for ferrets is every day in an educated ferret-friendly home. Robyn recommends Brenda’s Ferret Universe to get you started.

Bandit asks that everyone adopt one of his cousins, the Black-footed ferret. The black-footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) are the only ferret species native to North America. The black-footed ferret is also one of the most endangered mammals in the world and has been on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species list since l967. Bandit likes to visit the BlackFootedFerret.org and PrairieWildlife.org websites because he thinks his cousins look a lot like him with their dark masks!

Little Willie reminds us that ferrets are kissers, not criminals; so he wants you to help legalize ferrets in California. The ferrets sold in the USA as pets are a domesticated European species. They are typically already neutered before sale or adoption, and “in 1997 the Department of Fish and Game conducted a survey of all fifty state wildlife departments. The results of this survey clearly show that ferrets have never formed a feral colony or bred in the wild anywhere in the United States.” There is no valid reason for Californian ferrets owners to have be in fear every day that their domesticated ferrets will be confiscated and euthanized. Visit LegalFerrets.org to see how you can help.

And Nona just wants you to bring your favorite ferrets some new toys... lots and lots of toys. So typical of Nona to be thinking about playtime! Tubes and durable tub toys are Nona’s favorites. She also loves bouncing around in her rice box. Everything Ferret has a great list of toy & game ideas. Or you can buy toys through Broward Ferret Rescue & Referral’s link to Ferret.com and a portion of your purchase will help support this fine ferret shelter too!

How will you celebrate National Ferret Day?