Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
'Nonessential, experimental' status - which gives managers more flexibility under the Endangered Species Act - can continue for rare, prairie dog-dependent mammal
Wyoming biologists released 35 black-footed ferrets outside Meeteetse in 2015. The milestone event came after years of captive breeding as part of an effort to restore the endangered species throughout North America.
A federal judge has upheld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plans for managing black-footed ferrets in Wyoming, the state where the once-presumed-extinct species was rediscovered some four decades ago.
The dispute over how the federal government managed the endangered weasel-like animal traces back nearly a decade to when federal wildlife managers officially designated the Wyoming population as "nonessential, experimental." That classification allows for more regulatory flexibility than other Endangered Species Act designations, loosening restrictions on potentially harmful activities, lik...
