Hope is a wonderful thing. Here is an example:
Thirty years ago today a Black Footed Ferret, assumed to be extinct, was found near Meeteetse, Wyoming. The colony was on the verge of extinction and the few remaining ferrets were captured for a captive breeding program. Slowly - sometimes eight steps backwards and nine forward - progress towards re-establishing these amazingly playful critters has been made.
Watching one of them dance across the prairie in its freedom is one of those experiences that electrifies your soul. Perhaps they will be able to survive without our help in my lifetime - that would be sweet.
Ferrets are part of our family. Not the Black Footed variety, but domesticated close relations. One of our was named Meeteetse and she was mentioned on NPR's All Things Considered a few times - including a sweet obituary. It seems she had a fascination for certain voices and would come running whenever Richard Harris - an NPR science reporter - was on the air.
Oddly enough the plural collective noun for ferrets is business. If you want to probe the Oxford English Dictionary gives a bit of illumination where the term business came from and it is entirely appropriate to link it to a group of ferrets.
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