Okay Lars didn't seem to want to talk about his new jill...  Lars just
brought three Swedish ferrets into the country.  He now has a breeding pair
and we have a breeding pair.  These are some really beautiful ferrets!  We
intend to further our 'experiments' with non-American stock having now
American, English, German and now Swedish ferrets in our household.  I'm
expecting enviromental conditions to be more important than genetic pool on
concerns such as cancers.  We're also working in these environemntal areas
to see if we have fewer problems than some seem to note in the American
ferret population.
 
It seems to me unlikely to be genetics since the various ferret populations
are mostly derived from English stock in the very recent past.  The American
lines for working animals did not remain isolated when the pet boom began in
the late seventies and early eighties.  Many of the local show ferrets can
trace lineage to English ferrets imported at that time.  But enough of that
soap box speech...
 
Our new Swedes are Valkyrie (brown sable jill) and Loki (sable siamese hob).
Okay names from Norse mythos but it was the best we could come up with to
try to match our Japanese/Buddhist theme.  Anybody know any Swedeish
Buddhists we can steal names from?  Loki is a solid beautiful fun hob.
Valkyrie is a bit more skittish but that matches our expectations.
 
Oh we seem to be adopting the name "International House of Ferrets" for
our breeding program to go along with "Halfway House for Woebegone
Weasels" for our shelter.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1447]