The ESA enabled the establishment of captive breeding programs and reintroduction of black-footed ferrets to facilitate recovery.
Black-footed ferrets declined to the brink of extinction due loss of habitat and prey. They depend on prairie dogs and their burrows for food and shelter, and prairie dog numbers decreased with conversion of native prairie to cropland, poisoning, and disease. The ESA enabled the establishment of captive breeding programs and reintroduction of black-footed ferrets to facilitate recovery. There are now close to 400 individuals in the wild.