Turnell, Jack

The black-footed ferret originally occurred in the Great Plains from Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada, to Texas and Arizona, USA. It experienced a dramatic decline during the first half of the 20th century and by the late 1970s was thought to be extinct. In 1981, a ranch dog in northwestern Wyoming killed a black-footed ferret. This event led to the discovery of a small colony of about 130 ferrets on the Pitchfork Ranch, near Meeteetse, Wyoming in 1984. Jack Turnell managed the Pitchfork Ranch at that time and served on the Black-Footed Ferret Advisory Team. Outbreaks of sylvatic plague and canine distemper killed nearly all of the Meeteetse population so the remaining 18 ferrets were captured between 1985 and 1987 and taken to a captive breeding facility in Sybille Canyon, Wyoming (Sybille Wildlife Research and Conservation Education Center).

In 1987, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and the American Zoo and Aquarium Association initiated a captive breeding program. In 1991, the first captive-bred ferrets were reintroduced into natural habitats in the Shirley Basin area of southern Wyoming, and in 1992, two litters of wild-born kits were reported there. Reintroduction continued although a moratorium on additional releases was imposed in 1995 due to declines in the prairie dog population.