According to https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140219102228.htm “Decades of human persecution (e.g., poisoning) of the ferret's favorite prey, prairie dogs, and severe outbreaks of plague and distemper led to its extinction in the wild in 1987.”It is also becoming endangered because of too much loss of space. The black-footed ferret plays an important role in the ecosystem. The black-footed ferret primary consumers from overpopulating, and it helps the tertiary consumers in populating. Black-footed ferrets eat small mammals that could destroy lots of vegetation if their population grew too large. These ferrets are important to the ecosystem and must be saved from extinction.