Rare ferrets, rain forest and birds make gains

Black-footed ferrets, among the most endangered mammals in North America, are staging a comeback in the Shirley Basin of Wyoming, scientists said Thursday.

A decade after they were given up for goners, the wild ferret population in the area has grown from five to an estimated 220, based on surveying 14 percent of the area's available habitat, according to a report in the journal Science.

"We hear so much about how the Endangered Species Act is broken and animals go extinct. But when given a chance and when people work together, endangered species can recover," said Jonathon Proctor, of the Defenders of Wildlife, who was not connected with the study.

Two other reports in the current Science reported environmental comebacks: Several rare and vulnerable birds are rebounding in Europe and conservation efforts in Peru are reducing damage to the Amazon rain forest.

In Europe, researchers led by Paul Donald, of Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, reported that European Union policies designed to protect vulnerable species and their habitat seemed to be working.

In 15 European countries studied, there was a significant increase in populations for protected birds between 1990 and 2000, compared with 1970-90, the team found. Researchers said the protected birds also showed an increase compared with birds not on the list.

Species doing particularly well included the barnacle goose, white stork, spoonbill, little egret, Slavonian grebe and white-tailed eagle.

In South America, satellite monitoring indicated the rate of deforestation is declining in the Peruvian rain forest. Researchers led by Paulo Oliveira, of the Carnegie Institution, reported that while deforestation is continuing, it is occurring mostly in designated logging areas and not in protected regions set aside by the government.

They concluded the government's program intended to set aside land for indigenous people also is having an effect in protecting the forest.

In the ferret study, lead author Martin Grenier, of the University of Wyoming, said, "The thing that is neat about this is it shows there's good potential to recover the species. ... We'd like to be able to eventually remove that species from the endangered-species list. It would be a wonderful conservation success story."

Black-footed ferrets were driven nearly to extinction by two factors: the eradication of their main food source — prairie dogs — by ranchers and sylvan plague.

Compiled from Los Angeles Times, AP and Reuters