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Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Endangered Ferrets Face Plague Threat


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Plague outbreaks are closing in on the Conata Basin of South Dakota, where the largest group of endangered black-footed ferrets in the U.S. lives.

The ferrets were believed to be extinct in the 1970s after a U.S. government program nearly eradicated prairie dogs, which are ferret's primary prey.

Photograph by Charlene Bessken/BLM