To Christine Code.
 
>My God!  A friend has just moved to New Zealand, and today she wrote me a
>note and said: that ferrets are considered pests down here because there
>are a lot of them and they eat up shrubs and leaves etc.  We were shocked!!
 
I'm in Auckland- New Zealand, Dutch immigrant since 1949 There may be a
misunderstanding between the ferret and the possum.  The numbers of wild
ferrets in New Zealand are not large enough to cause problems except in a
rear case were a ferret gets into a chicken run and has a good time.  But
the Possum is an completely different animal, the size of an very big cat,
these animals are living in large colonies in the forests and can ruin
tree's and shrubs in a very short time.  They are the leave eating variety.
Total number could run in to the millions!!!  I have got a true Weasel
(mustella vitalis) in captivity, a very happy and playful tiny beasty but
bites like a sewing machine.
 
Greeting from NZ and the lots of "Fluffie's.
 
Bill (67)
[Posted in FML issue 1359]