I have a sad and cautionary report to make.  Our boy Fredi came to us 1 year
ago, rescued from friends who couldn't cope. We attended to his problems,
fixed his fleas and got him his shots (rabies included). But we delayed
getting him castrated and descented until it proved necessary.
 
With the coming of spring a month ago, it became unavoidable, he was agitating
to get out of the house continuously. The smell was truly overwhelming and
he kept attempting to mate the cat. The appointment was made for the op this
last Tuesday. BUT, on Saturday  he finally made good his escape through a
window. For two days we searched the streets of our small town, there were two
sightings without a capture.
On Tuesday morning the Forestry Service called, it turned out he had made it to
woods on the edge of town, a posted rabies area, where an uninformed jogger
taking his tameness to be a sure sign of rabies, killed him on the spot.
 
In reporting his kill to the forester, the vigilant citizen said "I thought it
was a martin with rabies because it followed me and looked tame" .
 
So our dear Fredi who trusted people and followed us everywhere met his end.
 
If in time we get another ferret, he will be castrated before the first
adolescent mating urge leads to a tragic conclusion.
 
Peter and Graziella, sadder and wiser.
 
End of Message
 
[Posted in FML issue 0847]