PWR Year in Review
See what we accomplished in 2009.
From Kansas to Canada to Conata Basin,
Prairie Wildlife Research has been busy
helping black-footed ferrets return to the wild.
Read our 2009 Year in Review for highlights
of our achievements.

PWR in the News
Endangered ferrets surviving plague
By Chet Brokaw - The Associated Press - 10/26/2009
One of the nation's largest colonies of endangered black-footed ferrets is surviving despite the disease that has hit their home in a vast stretch of prairie dog towns south of Badlands National Park, according to federal wildlife officials. More...
Kansas Ferrets Key to Species Survival
By Mike Corn - The Hays Daily News - 09/05/2008
The sylvatic plague epidemic under way in the Conata Basin of South Dakota has killed off thousands of prairie dogs and an untold number of highly endangered black-footed ferrets. More...
Efforts on 2 Fronts to Save a Population of Ferrets
By Jim Robbins - The New York Times - 07/15/2008
A colony that contains nearly half of the black-footed ferrets in the country and which biologists say is critical to the long-term health of the species has been struck by plague, which may have killed a third of the 300 animals. More...
Ferrets Make It Through Kansas Winter
By Mike Corn - The Hays Daily News - 04/02/2008
Almost certain not to catch on as a new trend, it was the foray of choice for Travis Livieri, taking not to the road, but to the fields instead. More...
Move Over, ‘Meerkat Manor’
By Paul Tolme - Newsweek - 01/15/2008
When I traveled to South Dakota in 2005 to write a story about black-footed ferrets, I never imagined my words about the little weasels would one day appear in a trashy romance novel. More... 
Endangered
By Dan O'Brien - Wild Idea Buffalo Company Blog - 01/06/2008
It is not simply rareness that attracts us to endangered wildlife. More... 
Hanging in the Balance
By Travis Livieri - Ferrets USA Magazine - 2007
No moon appeared in the sky on the cool night of September 26, 1981. More...
Endangered Ferrets Face Plague Threat
By Hope Hamashige - National Geographic News - 04/21/2006
Spring has arrived on the South Dakota prairie, and with it comes a new worry for endangered black-footed ferrets: the return of the plague. More...
Out West with the Black-Footed Ferret
By Bob Church - Ferrets Magazine - January/February 2006
Travis Livieri knows a good animal when he sees one. More...
Prairie Dogs Poisoned by U.S. in South Dakota
By Maryann Mott - National Geographic News - 10/26/2005
A controversial prairie dog poisoning program has begun on the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands in southwestern South Dakota. More...
Toughing It Out in the Badlands
By Paul Tolme - Defenders Magazine - Summer 2005
With one hand on the steering wheel and the other controlling a spotlight on the roof of his pickup, biologist Travis Livieri drives through a bumpy, windswept stretch of South Dakota prairie. More...
Life on the Brink
By Travis Livieri - Ferrets USA Magazine - 2005
On a moonlit October night, wildlife biologist Randy Matchett maneuvers his pickup truck along a dirt trail in a remote area of north-central Montana. More...

BFFs in the News
Colorado Companies Team Up With U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to Protect Black-Footed Ferret
PR Newswire - 11/05/2009
The endangered black-footed ferrets inhabit prairie dog towns in the western U.S. This rare carnivore feeds on prairie dogs. The prairie dogs are very susceptible to plague and often entire population die-offs in towns occur. More...
Black-footed ferret reintroduced to Saskatchewan prairies
By Anne Kyle - Canada.com - 10/01/2009
More than 70 years after vanishing from the Canadian Prairies, the black-footed ferret is once again scampering in the wild at Saskatchewan's Grasslands National Park. More...
Hunt for black-footed ferrets on plains ends
By Chris Woodka - The Pueblo Chieftain - 09/09/2009
The last black-footed ferret known to live in the wild in Colorado died more than 50 years ago. More... 
Plague vaccine for prairie dogs could save endangered ferret
By Hadley Leggett - Wired.com - 08/04/2009
Wild prairie dogs may soon get a dose of something extra in their daily diet: an oral vaccine against the plague. More...
Prairie dogs fighting plague
Associated Press - 07/18/2009
Officials plan to treat prairie dog colonies where sylvatic plague has been found in Badlands National Park. More... 
Black-footed ferrets returning to Saskatchewan grasslands
By Anne Kyle - Canada.com - 06/28/2009
Parks Canada is reintroducing one of North America's rarest mammals to its native habitat in Saskatchewan's Grasslands National Park. More...