Being a wildlife biologist and having worked thru school in a
vertebrate museum, I had seen and raised all kinds of domestic and
wild critters over the years. My wife, a now retired RN, worked night
shift at a local hospital in CA and some of the other nurses there had
ferrets. Unbeknownst to me, she arranged to have a new kit brought into
our household. She prefaced his arrival by saying to me."I have found
you the perfect pet". Thus, Bubba arrived on the scene to our household
of 4 cats. 8 to 10 weeks old and from a local breeder, It was love at
first sight and since I am a rather hyper (read that as Ritalin kid)
person to start with, this new member of the weasel family fit right
in. His daily antics kept me in hysterics as he grew up to be a very
large, handsome, loving dark sable boy. He traveled everywhere with us
in CA (yes I knew they were illegal to keep and harbor, but so #$%^&*
what!), even to the Mojave desert on vacation. His favorite spot was on
the dashboard stretched out on his back. I still have pics of him on a
leash poking his head into every Kangaroo Rat hole in the desert dunes.
The learning curve was steep and he kept us busy and on our toes
teaching us about their wily ways. Soon he was joined by Bodie (the
ghost) and Blizzard, our first DEW. From there, the tribe kept growing
until we, acting as rescue and safe harbor for illegal "aliens" in
CACAland had more than 16 sharing our home. We both became heavily
involved in the legalization fight and spent years trying to educate
legislators, Fish and Game personnel and judges just how wrong the
law in California really is. Finally the situation grew too dangerous
in California and we both retired and moved to the ferret friendly
state of AZ where we currently are owned by 4 fuzzies and 2 catz.

Putorius and the fab 4

[Posted in FML 8170]