March 23, 2018 Pinedale Roundup Page 5
PINEDALE ROUNDUP
COMMENTARY
WIT, WISDOM OR WHATEVER
What’s your opinion?
Most folks have opinions about one thing
or another. One source defines opinion as
a judgment, viewpoint or statement about a
matter commonly considered subjective. I
think “subjective” here means it’s a thought
or feeling you hold about a topic.
Some people take the stand that their
opinion is based on fact. Mine are based on
me. Those folks can be wrong if they like.
My opinions are well thought-out, consid-
ered and designed to show others the error
of their ways. I do not take this responsibil-
ity lightly.
Take food, for example. We all enjoy a
wide range of edible choices. However, I do
take exception to a few. The first would be
cucumbers. My neighbor Roger and I agree
on that so questioning the taste of cucum-
bers must be more fact than opinion. My late
rancher husband would not allow one in the
house. His family had all been Italian farm-
ers in the Reno area. He claimed that even
the hogs they raised refused cucumbers –so
don’t expect him to eat them. These vege-
tables carry a strong taste and smell. To me
they will taint an entire green salad. You are
welcome to my share of cucumbers.
I might as well admit that I don’t cater
MY WYOMING
Hey Phoenix Zoo, those ferrets are from Meeteetse
By Bill Sniffin
Wyoming’s black-footed ferret is a rock
star at the Phoenix Zoo. In fact, you might
think the elusive little critter was native to
Arizona. Not so.
An obscure place in our state was the host
of one of the most impressive recovery sto-
ries of an extinct animal that has occurred in
America over the last several decades.
In 1979, the black-footed ferret was de-
clared extinct in the world. The famous nat-
uralist and artist John James Audubon first
painted and published reports of the critter
around 1846.
In 1981, Lucille Hogg’s pet dog Shep
dragged home a carcass of an unusual ani-
mal at their ranch home near Meeteetse.
Lucille was a fixture in Meeteetse at her
Lucille’s Café. She and husband John took
the odd critter to a local taxidermist to talk
about possibly getting it mounted.
The taxidermist took one look at it and
after a long pause said he needed to make
a phone call. When he returned he said this
animal was not only an endangered species,
but it was extinct.
Wyoming Game and Fish officials de-
scended en masse on Meeteetse and the
Hogg home. The hunt was on for the rest of
the animals.
This was an amazing coincidence involv-
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to sour, vinegary foods. This includes pick-
les, relish and sauerkraut. Admittedly, I do
mince a pickle into my potato salad. Hot
spicy foods keep sour stuff company on my
“do not eat” list. Taco seasoning and mild
chili are acceptable.
There is a jar of crunchy peanut but-
ter in my fridge; it’s for my bird friends,
not me. I didn’t care for peanut butter as
a child, but having to inhale peanut butter
breath from all students eating school lunch
clinched that opinion. I sometimes believe I
should receive a medal from the bird world
for faithfully refilling the PB feeders every
week. Are you chickadees and woodpeckers
reading this?
It should not be a surprise that I have
opinions on clothing – comfort and color.
I will never understand why people choose
black, brown or gray when there are such
gorgeous colors out there. I do make an ef-
fort to coordinate my appearance, which
gives me an excuse to wear what jewelry I
own. I must admit, though, that my sister
gets a lot of credit for decorating me. She
did tell me that she often buys something for
me, then goes back and gets herself the same
item. I’m glad she does – or I might not get
ing a pesky dog and some folks who thought
they had found a really odd-looking ani-
mal. Thankfully that taxidermist was alert
enough to contact the Wyoming Game and
Fish.
Our local newspaper in Lander along with
most newspapers in Wyoming ran news sto-
ries and ads in the late 1970s trying to locate
any colonies of the elusive nocturnal animal.
None were found.
Ferrets are common in America as pets.
But these are not native. These are origi-
nally from Europe. The only local ferret in
America is the black-footed ferret, which
originally roamed all over North America.
In a recent column, I wrote about how
reliant the American Indians were on the
buffalo. Well, in this case, the prairie dog
is the buffalo to the black-footed ferret. The
latter’s entire existence is based on killing
and eating prairie dogs.
One Game and Fish biologist described
the relationship as the prairie dog providing
“room and board” for the ferrets, since the
ferrets also live in abandoned prairie dog
towns. One study showed that an adult fe-
male black-footed ferret and her litter of kits
killed and ate more than 1,000 prairie dogs a
year for their diet.
This ferret looks a lot like a mink but the
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what was intended for me. nouncer whispers), or infomercials. Years
It is also my opinion that every household
should have a full-length mirror, and not
hidden on the back of the door that’s never
open. I was so happy when those hiphug-
ger jeans bit the dust. Only gals weighing
110 pounds or less looked halfway decent in
them. Most, once they got them zipped up,
walked around with those unsightly muffin
rolls above the waistband. A full-length mir-
ror would have cured that.
Movies and television follow my prefer-
ences in reading. I do not read chick lit, sci-
ence fiction, romance, fantasy or horror. My
apologies to Stephen King. I live alone and
don’t like to be afraid of the dark or those
thumps in the night. I do enjoy biographies,
historical fiction, a good sleuth adventure or
mystery (preferably one I solve myself be-
fore the last page). The book is always better
than the movie, although a few movies come
close.
Television has never ranked very high on
my list and is so dreadful now that I can-
celled satellite service several years ago.
You do not want to know my opinion re-
garding sit coms, game shows, sports TV
(especially bowling and golf where the an-
two animals are not related. It has a close
relative in Europe called the polecat, not to
be confused with the expression “doggone
polecat” to describe a bad guy in old-time
Wyoming.
Bob Oakleaf and Andrea Orabona, non-
game biologists for Wyoming Game and
Fish, worked on the project, which is fea-
tured in a video on YouTube.
Back in the 1980s, Wyoming Game
and Fish staff tried to locate the rest of the
pack of ferrets, using an old-style trap and
then some huge hand-held antennas. They
walked around trying to track the ferrets,
which had radio collars installed on them.
Ultimately they found more than 50 of
the ferrets and the small colony seemed to
be doing well.
But this did not last long.
The reason the black-footed ferret was
declared extinct in 1979 was because of a
disease called plague, which had been wip-
ing out prairie dogs and killing ferrets at the
same time.
By 1985, the number of Meeteetse ferrets
was down to 18 and the decision was made
to capture all of them and put them into a
captive facility to prevent further deaths
leading to extinction.
The initial facility was in Sybille Can-
1
Year
Publisher
Sharon Pape
GM
Cortney Reed
Advertising
Flora Deru Mary Brodie
Office Manager Columnist
LOCAL COMMENTARY
MARY BRODIE
ago, I enjoyed “Maverick,” “Paladin,” “The
Ponderosa,” and “Wagon Train,” in which
young Clint Eastwood played the scout
Rowdy. We could watch all of these as a
family – no foul language, nudity or vio-
lence. The outlaw or Indian knew to simply
fall off his horse or cliff without the bloody
stuff. If the stallion reared in the corral or
the light went out in the ranch house, you
knew what was going on ­– and hopefully
the kids didn’t.
My opinion is that many scientific “facts”
are based on theories. If there are no writ-
ten records or eyewitness accounts, how can
something be fact? Many will disagree with
me on this. That’s okay. We can agree to
disagree and still be friends.
I have formed my opinions over a lifetime
of experience, and I’m comfortable with
them. And, I know you have your own opin-
ions. Watch whatever television that pleases
you, wear black if you like, but, please do
not bring me peanut butter cookies. n
Mary Louise Routh Brodie is a free-
lance writer and Pinedale resident. Her
column appears in the Roundup every
other week.
yon. As Wyoming Game and Fish was able
to breed more and more ferrets, other places
around the country got involved, including
Colorado facilities and the Phoenix Zoo.
Today, ferrets have been re-released to
the outdoors. A big event was conducted in
Meeteetse on July 26, 2016, where the crit-
ters were reintroduced to their original home
area. There are now more than 1,500 ferrets
running loose and they seem to be thriving.
Not good news for prairie dogs, though.
Meanwhile, I even bought a tee shirt at
the Phoenix Zoo, which was emblazoned
with the big photos of the black-footed fer-
ret and a big logo for the zoo.
I cannot blame Arizonans for wanting to
take some credit for this amazing survival
success story. But in the brief information
piece about the ferret, Wyoming was hardly
mentioned and the location where they were
found was spelled “Meteetse,” rather than
the correct spelling of Meeteetse. Oh well.
The zoo has provided more than 400
black-footed ferrets, which have been rein-
troduced into the wild. So, I grudgingly have
to give them a little bit of credit after all.
Not sure I will wear that tee shirt back in
Wyoming, though. n
 Check out additional columns at www.
billsniffin.com. 
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