Bob C. said in his talk in Toronto that ferrets had an incredible sense of
smell and could detect a frog several inches underground!  I'm here to tell
you they can smell toads from even greater distances!!!  My Tyson is almost
2 years old now and the past two summers he has repeatedly astounded me by
digging up toads!  I'd estimate we've had at least a dozen Close Encounters
of the Toad Kind!  But tonight topped them all!  It was raining really,
really hard when I pulled in the driveway tonight with the pizza I had
picked up in town.  As I headed for my usual parking place...I noticed
several toads in the path.  I creeped real slow hoping they would hop
away-then backed up to see if they had!  After two attempts at this, I
decided it would be faster just to get out and move them!  Out into the
pouring rain I jumped...moved the first two over into the grass and went
to get the third.  He must have wanted to get out of the rain because he
hopped under the truck!  So back into the truck I went...still afraid to go
forward, so I backed up.  Finally saw the little toad and jumped back out
into the pouring rain to get him.  The little fart hopped back under the
truck!  By this time, I am soaked to the bone...not to mention the pizza
is getting cold!  One more time..into the truck, backed up until I saw the
toad...then backed a little more-just so he couldn't do it a third time!
Picked the little fart up and took him to the grass!  What a cutie he was
and looked at me with the most innocent of toady eyes!  Anyway, I finally
got parked, grabbed the pizza and raced for the house...it's one thing
for me to get soaked..quite another for the pizza!  My husband had been
watching from the window and the only thing he really said was..."you are
certifiable!"  Well, maybe I am!  But at least the toads were safe!  I
pried off my wet jeans, put some sweats on, rinsed my hands, towel-dried
my hair then went to tell my daughter the pizza was here!  She was in the
ferret room....with Tyson...who almost knocked me over as soon as I entered
the room!  He was all over me...sniffing and sniffing, trying to lick my
hands and sniffing some more!  I have never seen his little nose work so
fast!
 
I swear....he smelled Toady!!  Okay...I admit to just rinsing my hands and
not really washing them...but I am not convinced that would have made a
difference!  He smelled TOAD!  Which completely backs up Bob C's statement!
Ferrets can not only smell them several inches underground....they can
smell them clear out in the driveway!
 
=====
Judy Cooke
Tyson, Hope, and Einstein
 
"The world is made up for the most part of morons and natural tyrants,
sure of themselves, strong in their own opinions, never doubting anything."
Clarence Darrow
[Posted in FML issue 3184]