Olivier, thanks for the reference!  I have thousands, but each day I find
that ferrets were mentioned in more works than ever thought or realized.
Finding the information in English is easy, as well as the major works
from most countries, but I have to admit it is tedious and difficult to
find some of them.  Usually, I do on-line searches of non-American
libraries, but can't always find them all.  Currently, my EndNote file
has 23,400 (plus) ferret, polecat and related files, and I physically
possess about 80% of them.  So far, the hardest to obtain (and hardest
for me to translate!) are from the old Soviet block countries, many of
which are unpublished gray literature or only with limited publication.
Once I actually sent a box of Modern Ferrets and a copy of Kim
Schilling's Ferrets for Dummies in trade for a dozen poorly photocopied
reports on European polecat-steppe polecat-ferret hybrids.  Only a
reference hound like myself would think that was a great deal.  Maybe I
should trade you somethng for a copy of your reference?  ;-)
 
Yes, there are other non-American FML people but few post as regularly as
I would like.  I wish more Non-American, Non-Canadian people would post
more frequently.  I especially love seeing posts from people living in
countries that have used ferrets far longer than in the Americas.  They
have an insight North Americans are just starting to develop.
 
Everyone has their own insights into ferrets, and the more of us that
post from as wide and diverse a background as possible, the better.
Thanks for being one of them and thanks to all the other non-Americans
that post as well.
 
Bob C
 
[Moderator's note: I agree -- I find the non-American view to be very
interesting.  Sometimes non-Americans will write to me directly and I
encourage them to post on the FML, but many feel rather uncomfortable
posting to a primarily English-speaking group.  I'm glad to see some
people forging ahead regardless!  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 4090]