Though it is not a glowing recommendation for ferret ownership, here it is.
http://www.drklein.net/bites.htm
 
"Ferrets have become increasingly common companion animals, with the number
of households containing them estimated to exceed 500,000.  However they
can be dangerous pets.  Ferrets are known to have seriously injured small
children, although such instances are infrequent.  Medical journals contain
reports of unprovoked ferret attacks on infants, which have involved up to
two-hundred separate bites.
 
Consistent with the medical literature on the topic, an article published
in the June, 1998 issue of the Journal of Emergency Medicine reported on
three cases of ferret bites sustained by small children in a midwestern
city over a three month period.  In one of these cases a 4 month old girl
suffered multiple lacerations around both eyes from a ferret attack.  The
ferret escaped from its cage, and attacked the child while she was riding
in the back seat of her parents?  in her safety seat.  The girl?s wounds
bled profusely, and required plastic surgery repair in the operating room.
 
In another case, a ferret "got loose" and attacked a five year old boy who
apparently was asleep.  The child?s parents were forced to pry the ferret?s
jaws off his hand when the ferret refused to release its bite.  Although
his injuries did not require surgical repair, this boy presented to the
emergency department with multiple puncture wounds and cuts to the hand.
 
Like other mammals, ferrets can contract and transit rabies.  However,
the risk of a person contracting rabies from a domestic ferret is largely
theoretical in the U.S., where human rabies is extremely rare.  Ferrets
should be vaccinated against rabies.  Vaccination is not 100 percent
effective, but is approximately as reliable as the vaccination of cats, and
current CDC recommendations for post-bite rabies prophylaxis for domestic
ferrets are identical to those for domestic dogs and cats.
 
Many people have been pleased with their pet ferrets.  Nevertheless, the
medical literature urges parents not to keep ferrets as house pets, since
they appear to represent an undue health risk for small children.
[Posted in FML issue 2977]