I was asked for more details on the pics of Georgia and Peanut's home.
http://gallery.me.com/ferret#100016

This is the inside of their pen. I was watching the web cam yesterday
morning when the lid to which the camera was attached was removed from
the nest box--the plastic tub you see in #3. Usually, the lid is set
down so that one only has a view of the floor of the pen, but this
time, much more was visible.

The door is how caretakers enter and leave the pen. In the breeding
facilities I've visited (Fort Collins and Louisville), the black-
footed ferrets are in rows of cages in a large room. While there
were solid walls between the cages so the animals couldn't see their
neighbors, tops and fronts are wire.

(See pics from Fort Collins
http://homepage.mac.com/ferret/IFC/PhotoAlbum12.html
and Louisville
http://gallery.me.com/ferret#100031
These pics were taken by various attendees at IFC forums. Interesting
coincidence: in the Louisville pics, there is a web cam shot of a
nest box of Indiana's kits. I wonder if Indiana is closely related
to Georgia, and how many other bffs have state names!)

Obviously the setup at the CRC in Front Royal (National Zoo) is fairly
different, with a larger, more enclosed area for each ferret, and just
the top slats letting in natural light. I don't know what the flooring
consists of; looks to me like dirt covered with large wood chips. The
metal cabling conduit carries the power and network connection for the
web cam. I don't know what the walls are made of.

As to what Peanut's and Georgia's fates are, my guess is that since he
was produced by artificial insemination with sperm from a long-dead
genetically valuable male, he will be kept for breeding. They may
stay at CRC, or one or both may be moved to one of the other breeding
facilities around the country.

That's about all I know. But I do have a contact who is the education
program manager there, and will contact her for more info!

Linda Iroff
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org

[Posted in FML 6056]