Unnamed Resolution concerning Black-footed Ferrets and Control of their Key Prey, Prairie Dogs

WHEREAS, South Dakota has a population of black-footed ferrets, and adjacent states and the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan may have occasional individuals; and

WHEREAS, this population of ferrets in South Dakota cannot safely exist where prairie dogs are eradicated; and

WHEREAS, current rodent control activity threatens existing ferrets;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the American Society of Mammalogists at its 1967 annual meeting on June 21 recommends that wherever reduction of numbers of prairie dogs is required, limiting grazing and encouraging natural enemies of prairie dogs be given a fair trial as a natural means of control; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that where artificial means of control are attempted, methods that are not lethal to the ferret and its ecosystem be devised, that cumulative poisons such as thallium, and chain-reacting poisons such as 1080 be not used at all, that governmental funds not be expended for reducing the numbers of prairie dogs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the agencies, governmental and nongovernmental, which aim to publish the results of the natural history study of the black-footed ferret in South Dakota be commended for the plan to publish as early as possible in 1967 and that investigation be continued on relationships between black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this resolution be sent to the U. S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife; the Ministers of Mines and Natural Resources of Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan; the Chief of the Canadian Wildlife Service; the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks; the National Park Service; the U. S. Bureau of Indian Affairs; the U. S. Bureau of Land Management; the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers; the U. S. Forest Service, and to cooperating conservation organizations (including the National Audubon Society, Welder Wildlife Foundation, and World Wildlife Fund).