There are three main frettchen species in the world. The black footed frettchen (mustela nigripes) is among them. This frettchen is the only native frettchen to North America. Ferrets belong to the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, minks, skunks and others.
The black footed ferret's diet includes prairie dogs. When farmers poisoned the prairie Hunde to protect their crops it also effected the ferrets. In 1970 these Tiere were thought to be extinct. However, a small group of them were found in Wyoming a while later.
There are about 700 black footed ferrets that live in the wild today.