I wanted to respond to your questions, although they are not really in
my specialty. As far as rabid ferrets go, "reported" is not the information
that you want, "confirmed" cases is. Since 1958, 13 ferrets have been confirmed
as rabid, 3 of which came from Virginia. (1, I believe, within the last year.)
There have been no occurrences of rabies in ferrets vaccinated with Imrab
vaccine.
I don't know where you could get accurate information on numbers of bite
cases. Let me say, that in my 8 years of practice, it has always been my
impression that ferrets have far fewer numbers of bite incidents and do far less
damage than dogs and cats. I have seen terrible facial wounds inflicted on
small children by the family cocker spaniel, and have never seen anything coming
even close to this with a ferret.
Will a ferret chew up a baby? No, but a ferret should never be left
alone with a small child. As you know from your own ferret - many ferrets like
to play nip and run, and are not discrminating as to the age or willingness
ofthe partner. However, in the bite incidents involving ferrets and small
children, you cannot blame the ferret. The fault lies with the parent who left
the two of them alone. In these situations, a ferret may be more of a risk than
the family dog, but it always boils down to the actions of a responsible parent
and pet owner, not the actions of the animal.
Ferrets cannot last long in the wild. They are not wild animals, but
are bred for domestication. They no more know how to forage for themselves than
your average dog or cat, which are used to having their food provided. Cats and
dogs can leap into or knock over trashcans to fend off starvation; ferrets can't
even do that. You can't really put a time limit on their survival out of doors;
their are too many variables in each situation to address.
Hope this has been of some help - I will look for some published material for
you on rabies incidence in ferrets.
Bruce Williams
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[Posted in FML issue 0630]
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