Melissa suggests that developing ferret breeds would be a good thing.  I
couldn't disagree more--not having specific breeds of ferrets is one thing
the ferret community has over dogs, cats, etc.
 
Look at dogs for example.  So many breeds of dogs are defined by traits
that are directly related to potential health problems: heads so massive
that pups must be born by Ceasarean; bodies so long the animal suffers back
problems; shortened faces that lead to breathing and jaw/tooth problems;
oversized eyes; too short legs; the list goes on and on.
 
The problem is that to develop a breed, you must exaggerate one or more
traits to distinguish it from others of the species.  Individuals that
don't posess that trait to the correct degree are eliminated from the gene
pool, no matter how healthy and how wonderful the personality.  The gene
pool narrows and genetic diversity suffers.
 
A limited gene pool is a bad thing.  Undesirable characteristics that may
or may not be related to the desired traits (health or behavioral) crop
up and are difficult if not impossible to eliminate.
 
[Sidebar on the Black Footed Ferret breeding program: They started with
only 18 animals, and do extensive genetic testing to match breeding pairs
as dissimilar as possible.  To do otherwise could be disasterous to the
survival of the species.]
 
I have nothing against someone developing a line of ferrets that are "black
sable, plush coated, large, stocky in build, with amazing dispositions."
But to turn that line into a breed, all outliers in any of the traits would
have to be culled, and no fresh blood could be brought into the line.  To
my mind this is NOT a good thing.
 
And one more thing: Go to a dog or cat show, and look for the plain ole dog
or cat.  Can't find them can you?  If you don't have a pedigree, you are
unwelcome.  Once of the nice things about ferret shows is that sometimes a
plain ole ferret takes first place.  Noone knows who the mom and dad were,
it may even be a Marshall Farms ferret.  Now that to my mind is a GOOD
thing!
 
Linda Iroff
Oberlin OH
[Posted in FML issue 3325]