Despite the fact that the mustelidae tend to be largely carnivorous
in the wild, they are far from exclusively so.  Otters have been known
to eat wild blueberries.  (This was from analysis of the contents of
wild otter droppings, so it should be representative of the actual
wild diet.)  They have also been observed eating peas, and nearly all
captive otter diets contain carrots or oranges.  Honey badgers, as the
name implies, eat honey, which is a plant product.
 
Plants can not be used exclusively as part of a mustelid's diet, but
should form some proportion of a natural-style diet for them.
 
E.S., Hershey and Nestle'
 
[One should be cautious about inferring dietary compatibility amongst
mustelids, even those seemingly as close as otters and ferrets.  There
are rather dramatic differences between some members of the family.
If you tried feeding a least weasel a diet with any substantial amounts
of plant matter, you'd kill it.  On the other hand, skunks will eat
fair amounts of berries and such-like.  I should probably backtrack a
bit and say that the vast majority of a polecat wild diet will be
animal protein.  It's probably safest to say that there's no such
thing as a 100% carnivore, (or herbivore for that matter), just shades.
But a ferret will be very close to the 100% end, much like cats.  Though,
ferrets seem much more susceptable to junk food than cats, so who knows.
Not like bears or to a lesser extent the Canine family where plant
matter can be a very important part of their diet.]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0382]