Three endangered black-footed ferrets have been spotted on the South Dakota portion of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The animals have not been previously seen at Standing Rock. It's possible they came up from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, where a colony was introduced in 2000.

“It would be remarkable if they were an undiscovered population because we've chased a lot of leads for decades and we haven't found one since 1981,'' Pete Gober, the coordinator of the ferret recovery program for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told The Omaha World-Herald. “It's not impossible that these moved up from Cheyenne River.''

The colony in Cheyenne River is about 70 miles from the site where the ferrets were seen on Standing Rock.

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Endangered ferrets pop up in unexpected place (The Omaha World-Herald 11/9)