Hmm.  Its an interesting question, isn't it?  Why are our US ferrets so
different from ferrets in other parts of the world?
 
Well, ferrets in the UK are bred with their hunting instincts for the
most part intact, and are often not fixed, and so might establish
breeding colonies.  This is not the case in the US.  Ferrets here are
almost ALL fixed VERY early in life, and the likelyhood of any random
stray who happens to survive being able to establish a breeding colony
is VERY slim.  And as to hunting instincts, well, it isn't one of the
priorities for breeders here.  In the field of husbandry, I beleive any
trait you don't specifically pay attention to may or may not be bred out,
its a matter of chance.
 
The feral colonies in New Zealand were, if I'm not mistaken, introduced
intentionally at first, which is why they exist, and also why they have
been so difficult to get rid of.
 
Also, I may be wrong, but I would guess that breeding practices in the
US, including but not limited to sheer quantity and frequency, have
perhaps shot the domestication of the ferret well ahead of those from
other countries.  (More generations in domestication., that is.) That,
and as has been stated during the course of this discussion, polecat is
still being introduced, however unwelcome, into breeding lines in the UK.
 
Also, anyone who says they saw "Wild Ferrets" may or may not have any
idea what they are talking about.  Please keep in mind, there IS a
species of WILD INDIGENOUS ferret in the US.  Also, how many times have
we heard on this list of someone finding a mink and thinking it was a
ferret?  Members of the mustelid family are all very similar in
appearance, and a person not well versed in their wild (and non-wild)
life may not be the best judge of what a "wild ferret" is.  And those
Navy folks may have in fact been referring to THE wild ferret, the
black-footed type, which may in fact still have existed in small
quantities in the wild as late as 1990.  (I am not 100% sure of the
chronology of the black-footed ferret's plight, but it has been very
quick.)
 
I don't doubt that on an individual basis, a pet ferret might survive in
the wild, but I highly doubt it is the norm.  My own ferrets probably
would not.  And I'm sure many other people on this list would say the
same.
 
Why should we expect our little domestic friends, who are fearless enough
to stick their noses in a candle flame or try a five-foot jump over five
feet in the air repeatedly until they succeed, who will approach random
animals thinking they might be good to play with, and who have wild
relatives in this country who are being out-competed for food, etc. to
the point of near extinction, to survive in the wild?  And even if they
did, what is the likelyhood of TWO surviving in the same area, of
opposite genders, neither of whom have been fixed?
 
Surely you jest.
 
Melissa Rotert
[Posted in FML issue 4028]