One of the Meeteetse Museums’ prized possessions — the pelt of a black-footed ferret named Elyssa — was stolen by a tourist last week. However, thanks to quick action by law enforcement and a bit of good luck, the culprit was caught and the rare fur is being returned to the museum.

Staff there were “just over the moon” with the speedy recovery, said Elizabeth Foss, the Meeteetse Museums’ public outreach and engagement director.

Launching a ferret hunt

It was on the morning of May 23 that staff realized the pelt had been pilfered, and they suspected a young Missouri couple who’d visited the museum the previous afternoon.

A nearby store’s surveillance footage showed the couple was driving a distinctive minivan — with luggage on the roof and a rear-mounted carrier — but Sheriff Darrell Steward wasn’t optimistic about a recovery.

“I thought, ‘That thing’s gone,’” Steward said.

Still, the sheriff began a search, and decided to check the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody. As luck would have it, he immediately found the van parked in the center’s lot, complete with a coyote tail on the back.

The couple was inside the vehicle eating lunch. Once Steward explained what he was looking for, the 21-year-old man confessed. Miles D. Huff reached over to a small gift bag, pulled out the pelt and handed it over, the sheriff said. “He was very apologetic.”

Huff volunteered that he’s a hunter, fisherman and trapper, Steward said, and there were other furs and some guns in the back of the van. Huff reportedly explained that he’d found the ferret pelt “really cool” and had a lapse of judgment, taking it without his girlfriend’s knowledge.

“‘Just stupid’ is what he said,” Steward recalled.

‘I’m guilty’

In part because the couple was just passing through — heading to jobs in Montana — Huff was arrested on the misdemeanor count of theft. He spent the night in jail before appearing in Park County Circuit Court Friday morning.

“I did it,” Huff said when asked for his plea. “I’m guilty.”

He received time served, six months of unsupervised probation and $420 in financial penalties.

“This one doesn’t make any sense,” said Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Hatfield, noting Huff had no prior criminal history.

“I don’t know what compelled him to do this, but I think a theft conviction, a couple of days in jail and a fine will impress upon him not to do this again,” Hatfield said.

Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah expressed similar hopes, saying the incident appeared to be “a mistake in judgment.” The judge added that Huff’s decision to take responsibility was “kind of refreshing.”

A Meeteetse story

At last week’s hearing, the parties agreed the pelt was worth less than $1,000, but its value to the museum goes beyond a dollar figure.

The black-footed ferret was thought to be extinct until a group was found on the Pitchfork Ranch outside Meeteetse in 1981. That small population formed the basis for a successful, ongoing recovery effort and helped put Meeteetse on the map.

The Meeteetse Museums has an exhibit dedicated to the species and the pelt “definitely [ranks] up there” among its items, Foss said.

“It was a very impactful piece that really helped us educate people on the ferret — being able to feel the fur and the claws and the tail, all that,” she said.

The National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado potentially could have provided a new pelt, Foss said, but it wouldn’t have been quite the same: Each ferret at the center is named, and the museum’s pelt came from “Elyssa,” who lived from 2007 to 2011.

“The story is irreplaceable,” Foss said.

Once the sheriff’s office is able to return the pelt, the Meeteetse Museums plans to put Elyssa back on display as a “please touch” exhibit, she said — though with some added security measures.

Federal crime?

Steward initially wondered if Huff’s possession of the pelt qualified as a federal crime, since the ferret is an endangered protected species. Because the item had been permitted to the museum, Steward said he was told the theft wasn’t a federal offense, but “if he would have taken it across state lines, it would have been an issue.”

As a result, Huff’s apprehension in Cody may have been fortunate for both him and the Meeteetse Museums.

“We just got extremely lucky,” Steward said.