Dear Ferret Folks-
I have NOTHING to do with ferret breeding, and want NO PART of the
current "JD" controversy, I know none of the facts first hand there,
and do not wish to speculate. I am just concerned about the difference
between "inbreeding" and "line breeding", given some recent examples
designed to show us the difference between the two.
I'm told that examples of line breeding include mating a receptive
animal to a grandsire, or to an aunt or uncle. Different cultures have
different rules, but in *this* culture that's "inbreeding.", if you do
it with people. I don't know anybody married to a grandparent or an aunt
or uncle. It isn't legal. Me, I'm the product of two first cousins on
my father's side, and even that is pushing it in America. (It makes me
my own cousin. Go figure.) There aren't many states where you *can*
marry a first cousin. It isn't legal, and apart from a cultural taboo,
there is a very good genetic argument against it.
How is having a child with your uncle any different than having a litter
of kits with your uncle at the genetic level? It seems to me that the
only difference is the absence of that cultural "taboo", as in ferrets
don't know or care, and if you get a horrid result, well, you can take
extreme measures to correct it. My grandparents, the first cousins, did
not have that legal or moral recourse when my father was born, although
he turned out all right. They tried and tried to have other children
and never could.(Many miscarriages.) I think being first cousins might
have had a lot to do with that.
In any event, I'm not arguing that ferret (and other animal) breeders
can get nice results with line breeding. I'm not arguing against the
practice. But it *is* inbreeding, with a different name. It is
inbreeding, at a somewhat more removed level. Go ahead and call it
line breeding to indicate that remove, but don't try to say that it is
something other than what it clearly *is*, to get around that cultural
taboo. It is a kind of inbreeding.
Alexandra in Ma
[Posted in FML issue 4961]
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