Black Footed Ferret

Another occupant on the IUCN’s ‘Red List’ is the black-footed ferret, the only species of the ferret that native to North America. It had actually been declared extinct in 1979 until a woman by the name of Lucille Hogg’s discovered a sadly dead one on her doorstep in Meeteetse, Wyoming, in 1981, her dog being the culprit.

After this discovery it was established that only a few dozen remained in the wild until 1987, when they were officially considered by the IUCN to be an extinct in the wild species. Thankfully, in 1991, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service launched a captive breeding program.

Despite having over 1,000 mature, wild-born individuals and being reintroduced into eight western US states, Canada, and Mexico, the black-footed ferret found itself back on the endangered species list in 2008.