Tony, remember that unlike a number of parts of Britain we have rabies,
canine distemper, ADV in wildlife as well as other communicable serious
illnesses (for example a few years ago some deer in NJ had bovine
mycobacteria, a fatal TB related illness that ferrets do get).

bears (even this close to NYC -- about 30 miles as the crow flies but
much longer to drive -- we have black bears), coyotes (ditto, in fact
one in a nearby county also had rabies and a high school student who
was trying to save what he thought was an injured "dog" is now under
shots treatment, and our local pack was singing a lot tonight), wolves
and mountain lions in some areas, foxes, fishers, martins (martins
also -- hopefully still -- local in low numbers in a very restricted
location, and we have found the rare fisher here but those wound up in
NJ by accident like suspected ones caught upon a truck), minks, otters
(also locally for both) bobcats, raccoons, hawks, large owls, eagles,
rattlers (also local and I have seen one in our town though rare here),
big snapping turtles (I have had to catch some big, old snappers to
return to local pond areas.), etc.

Here are the endangered and threatened animals of NJ (not our more
common ones):
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/tandespp.htm

Here are more common NJ mammals:
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/chkmamls.htm

birds:
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/chkbirds.htm

and reptiles:
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/chkrept.htm

and other states will have similar sites

So, even in one of the areas in the U.S. with the longest non-Native
inhabitation the variety and number of wild animals is high.

Furthermore in many areas the housing is too expensive to have a yard
and even in many areas where people do keeping animals outside is not
allowed.

There are a lot of differences beyond temperature to take into account.

That said, I really do worry about the over-exposure to light many
ferrets get. It is clearly (from the compilation of a huge number of
studies) one of the FSH and LH increasing triggers for adrenal disease.

Here are some neat sites for you:
http://www.inquinamentoluminoso.it/worldatlas/pages/fig1.htm

http://www.muskokaheritage.org/ecology-night/scotobiology.asp

http://www.mbconservation.org/index_files/page0004.htm

http://www.geocities.com/isebindia/05_08/05-01-3.html

Sukie (not a vet)
Current FHL address:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth
People can join there or can send a blank mail to the automated
joining address:
[log in to unmask]
and then follow the directions.
(The second is recommended for those having problems with Yahoogroups
web settings, and afterward send a blank mail from your subscribed
address to
[log in to unmask]
to get the digest instead of individual mails. )
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml

[Posted in FML 5500]