Decades of captive breeding and flea poison undone because humans mistake historical sentiment for habitat carrying capacity. Nature is completely unimpressed by the sunk cost.
https://www.koco.com/article/wyoming-black-footed-ferrets-meeteetse/74121936
KOCONo black-footed ferrets found in Meeteetse, Wyoming, 40 years after a rescue saved the speciesWyoming wildlife managers report no black-footed ferrets are being detected in the Absaroka Range foothills near Meeteetse, a key conservation area for the species