Meeteetse Museum

On September 26, 1981, a cattle rancher in Meeteetse, Wyoming, made a startling discovery. Their ranch dog had hunted down a black-footed ferret, a critically endangered animal that had not been seen in three years, and was believed by many to be extinct. Soon, more ferrets were found on a nearby ranch, leading to a burst of ferret fanatics, and a drive to protect and repopulate the adorable predators.

The black-footed ferrets were placed into a captive breeding program that has successfully reintroduced ferrets into the wild since 1991. On July 26, 2016, in front of a crowd of thrilled onlookers, 35 black-footed ferrets were returned home to Meeteetse. Delivered in two black SUVs, they were released at Pitchfork Ranch and Lazy BV Ranch, and each given a meal of prairie dogs to get them back into their natural spirit.  

The population is still extremely fragile, numbering between 350 and 500. Until recently, all black-footed ferrets were raised from the Meeteetse ferret population, particularly one virile ferret named Scarface, who was unusually successful at impregnating females. In 2020, researchers from the United States Fish & Wildlife Service successfully cloned a black-footed ferret named Elizabeth Ann from a DNA sample of a different population, improving the ecological diversity and overall health of the species. 

Today, the locus of ferret enthusiasm may be found at the Meeteetse Museums, a complex of several historic buildings dating back to the earliest days of the town. The Meeteetse Museum has a display of the history of black-footed ferrets in the area, including taxidermied ferrets, several displays of information, and ferret memorabilia. Other displays in the museum tell the history of Meeteetse.