Submitted Photo Cowbelle, a 5-year-old female black-footed ferret, is a resident of Minot’s Roosevelt Park Zoo. On Thursday, the zoo will observe National Black-Footed Ferret Day.

Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot will observe National Black-Footed Ferret Day on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with special activities planned.

The day is being observed along with other zoos with black-footed ferrets.

A craft station will be set up in the Visitor Center, said Nicole Barnhart, zoo Education, Conservation and Outreach coordinator. She said keeper chats are scheduled during the day.

The zoo is home to Cowbelle, a 5-year-old female black-footed ferret who came to the zoo from the National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado, said Jennifer Kleen, Minot Zoo Crew executive director.

The zoo’s first black-footed ferret named OshKosh made the Minot zoo the 22nd zoo in the country to be home to a black-footed ferret, Kleen said. OshKosh died in early August. Cowbelle arrived a few weeks later.

Black-footed ferrets, thought to be extinct twice, are being reintroduced in the wild, Kleen said.

She said staff at the Minot zoo are actively involved in field conservation efforts for the black-footed ferret (BFFs). Groups of keepers, along with Prairie Wildlife Research organization, have four conservation trips planned for the Wall, S.D., area in the next weeks. One of the trips left on Sept. 16. The last trip will be just prior to Halloween, Kleen said.

“On these conservation trips we ‘spotlight’ for the nocturnal BFFs for head counts, vaccines and sometimes they’re lucky enough to find wild-born BFFs that they tag,” Kleen said.