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LAMAR, Colo. (KDVR) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife is helping these ferrets get back on their feet.

CPW is introducing 30 black-footed ferrets to a colony of prairie dogs in order to give these near-extinct animals a chance to live back out in the wild. The ferrets are being released on the Southern Plains Land Trust property near Lamar.

The prairie dogs serve as the only food source for the black-footed ferret, one of North America’s rarest mammals. In order to keep the ferrets around, CPW has to keep the prairie dogs around too.

  • A prairie dog is already alert to the presence of the black-footed ferrets. Credit: CPW Twitter page 10/20/2022
  • The ferrets are being released on the Southern Plains Land Trust property near Lamar. Credit: CPW Twitter page 10/20/2022
  • The ferrets are being released on the Southern Plains Land Trust property near Lamar. Credit: CPW Twitter page 10/20/2022

According to CPW this means disguising plague vaccines within peanut butter pellets and dyeing them blue to look like blueberries. The hope is that prairie dogs eat these pellets and are protected from disease, which wipes out prairie dog colonies.

CPW is aiming for the ferrets to build a colony in this new habitat and maintain their numbers. For more information on the black-footed ferret, click here.