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Hundreds of years ago, a tiny, charismatic little weasel called the Black footed Ferret roamed across the American Prairie by the hundreds of thousands.
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Black footed ferrets existed across a very large part of the western United States and edged into Canada and Mexico as well.
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They live in Prairie dog burrows, and they eat Prairie dogs.
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They rely 90% on Prairie dogs for their survival, food and shelter.
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Female requires about 400 Prairie dogs a year to see her and her kids alive.
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But habitat loss and disease nearly eradicated Prairie dogs from North America, and without their primary food source, black footed ferrets quickly disappeared from the landscape.
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By the mid 20th century, they were even believed to be extinct.
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Today, only a few isolated and fragile populations remain.
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Tonight we've traveled to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Refuge in Colorado.
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Environmental educator Jeff Ewalt is here to assist the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
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We're counting the number of black footed ferrets living here.
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So what are we trying to accomplish tonight?
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So our fall ferret surveys are utmost importance to the refuge.
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We use these numbers to determine population densities, to assess site and national recovery goals.
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What's the rest of the process we'll be doing today?
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We are going to be spotlighting the entire area.
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They are typically underground all day, every day.
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We have about a 5-to-6-hour chunk of time where they're going to pop their heads up and give us an opportunity to take a look at them.
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We're looking forward to seeing something out there tonight.
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We'll do our best to spot them with your lights.
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There you go.
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Keep just a constant scanning going.
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Almost immediately we spot some wildlife.
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There's some eyes there.
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2 sets of eyes.
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We got some eyes on them, right, dear?
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And there's another one.
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Yeah.
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Notice how they're just staring you down.
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That's uncommon for a ferret.
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Typically, you'll see them pop up, pop back down, move around a little bit.
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But if they're just staying in one spot, that's almost certainly a deer that sort of like a deer in the headlights.
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Exactly.
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Yeah.
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The deer are out tonight in numbers, and we catch plenty in our beams along with other creatures prowling through the night.
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Yeah, definitely coyote.
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We just have a pack of coyotes in this area.
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Wait a minute, it's a Bunny.
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It says a lot for our restoration site.
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We're beginning to see these animals finally come around after decades of not being present on the landscapes.
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It's always really exciting to see.
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Our search is ultimately unsuccessful, but other members of the team managed to locate a black footed ferret and carefully capture the animal at a mobile lab.
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It receives vital vaccinations against harmful disease.
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This conservation work is tedious but critical to keep this species safe.
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She looks great.
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Yeah, she looks great.
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A very good-sized kid.
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That's incredible.
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Finally, after receiving a clean bill of health from the biologist, this animal is ready for release.
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So this little kid is vaccinated, healthy, looks really good and ready to go back to this hole in the wild.
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And because of that vaccination, I think stands a very good chance of being one of the remaining black footed ferrets.
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Let's get this ferret back into the hole so we can live it's ferret life.
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All right, let's do it.
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Let's see your go.
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She's going to smell that.
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This is it.
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That burrow.
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Look at that.
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She's checking it out, taking around a little bit, and down she goes.
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Once thought to be an extinct species, thanks to the hard work of dedicated men and women, this unique mammal has been given a second chance.
