I too have seen Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and I have also
read the book.  However, I was not shocked, offended or sickened by
seeing Buckbeak (the creature - a Hippogriff) eating dead ferrets.  I'm
sorry, but it is a movie (and book), it is entirely fictional.  Just
because we love ferrets and other animals, the entertainment industry
(including writers) should not have to refrain from using the *idea* of
dead animals in their works.  To start, I highly doubt the ferrets in
the movie were real and if they were, I'm sure they were dead previous
to filming, not killed for the movie.  There are laws against cruelty
to animals in films.  Second, the creature "eating" the ferrets was a
computer image.  Third, the entertainment industry is filled with
depictions of violence, particularly towards humans, so it hardly seems
reasonable to criticize J.K. Rowling and the film's director for briefly
using ferrets as food for an imaginary creature.  Finally, its not that
far-fetched that ferrets could be food for another animal, and I'm sure
at some point in history they were.  I understand that ferrets are
probably not food to other animals any longer, but we have to remember
that hippogriffs, Hogwarts Castle, Harry Potter, werewolves and wizards
aren't reflections of reality either.  And at least the ferrets were
given to Buckbeak dead and not alive.
[Posted in FML issue 4715]