Sonda Stokes, our Animal Caretaker, visited Weatherford Elementary. Molly the ferret traveled along so students could see an animal similar to our native, and endangered, Black Footed Ferret. For now, there are roughly 300 to 400 wild ferrets. Many populations continue to face the threat of sylvatic plague—an exotic, infectious bacterial disease that has wiped out entire colonies of prairie dogs. That spells trouble for black-footed ferrets, who prey on prairie dogs almost exclusively.