Hunt for black-footed ferrets in Colo. ends

The last black-footed ferret known to live in the wild in Colorado died more than 50 years ago. Still, under the Endangered Species Act, Eastern Colorado landowners were required to survey their land on the off-chance that a ferret colony somehow survived. No more. In August, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended a block clearance for ferrets in black-tailed prairie dog habitat in Colorado, and notified the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The action most likely will translate into dropping the state survey requirement, although the state Wildlife Commission has not yet considered it. “We will no longer require ferret surveys for actions we review in black-tailed prairie dog habitat,” Susan Linner, Colorado field supervisor for the federal agency, said in a letter to state officials. The need for the surveys has been a sore spot for some ranchers, who complain about the expense and paperwork on behalf of an animal they had never seen...PuebloChieftain