Animalia IV

Fourth artwork in my "Animalia" series featuring endangered animals

Mixed Media and Paper Collage on Wood Panel
Media includes: acrylic, graphite, colored pencils, oil pastels, ink, tea
12 × 12 inches on 2 inch deep wood panel

About Black Footed Ferrets

According to the Black Footed Ferret RecoveryProgram:
On September 26th, 1981 the black-footed ferret was rediscovered near Meeteetse, Wyoming giving hope to a species that was until then considered extinct.
There are only three ferret species on Earth; the European polecat, the Siberian polecat, and the black-footed ferret. The black-footed ferret is the only ferret species native to North America. They have been classified as an endangered species in the United States since l967. They are classified as Endangered D on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

According to Wikipedia:
The Black-footed Ferret (Mustela nigripes), also known as the American polecat or Prairie Dog Hunter, is a species of Mustelid native to central North America. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN, because of its very small and restricted populations. First discovered by Audubon and Bachman in 1851, the species declined throughout the 20th century, primarily as a result of decreases in prairie dog populations and sylvatic plague. It was declared extinct in 1979 until Lucille Hogg’s dog brought a dead black-footed ferret to her door in Meeteetse, Wyoming in 1981. That remnant population of a few dozen ferrets lasted there until the animals were considered extinct in the wild in 1987. However, a captive breeding program launched by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in its reintroduction into eight western states and Mexico from 1991–2008. There are now over 1,000 mature, wild-born individuals in the wild in 18 states of the USA, with four self-sustaining populations in South Dakota (two), Arizona and Wyoming.

View more of my artwork online at www.lynnetteshelley.com