Support OneGreenPlanet Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high quality content. Please support us! Support Us In a revolutionary conservation tactic, a Black-footed ferret has been cloned. Elizabeth Ann is an identical genetic copy of Willa, a female who died in 1998. Elizabeth Ann is healthy and will enter a breeding program at the National Black-footed Ferret Conservation Center, with hopes that her offspring can be reintroduced to the wild in the next few years. Given that Black-footed Ferrets are currently listed as an endangered species with a current wild population of just 300-400, this groundbreaking new technology will bring crucial genetic diversity to the currently limited gene pool. Small gene pools are incredibly dangerous for wild animal populations, as a single disease outbreak can easily kill a genetically similar group of animals. Black-footed Ferrets are walking on thin ice in their everyday lives, with the ever-present looming threat of an outbreak serving as the difference between survival and extinction.