Mustela nigripes

Status: Critically Endangered. Population suffered due to loss of their primary source of food, prairie dogs, by farmers waging battle against the rodents that are considered an agricultural pest. Poison used to kill prairie dogs also wiped out black-footed ferrets. Adding to the problem, an imported plague wiped out thousands more prairie dogs. However, due to conservation efforts, the wild population is stabilized and breeding, as well as a secondary captive population, and progress is made on salvaging the plains ecosystem, so the outlook is optimistic.

Historically, plains tribes in North America snared and and their pelts of weasels for rites, ceremonial regalia, and war bonnets. The fierce fighting skills of the creatures was recognized, with their lithe body and coiled power. They have keen eyesight in the dark and a keener sense of smell. To impart some of those qualities and their fearless spirit upon the warriors, representations of weasels were inscribed upon the ends of their weapons. The black and white coloration made them emblematic of the cycles of life and death.

Because of the loss of their primary food source of prairie-dogs, black-footed ferrets are endangered. Modern tribal conservationists have dedicated themselves to preventing the extinction of the species, working with sparse wildlife funds to revitalize the prairies and grasslands and the intricate ecology that black-footed ferrets are a flagstone species for. To bring them back from the brink is to bring back the overall health of the interlinked ecosystem.