You may have noticed Chere's notice about the death of two of her ferrets in
a terrible accident.  I know that Chere is very broken up about this, and
she blames herself for what happened, but it was in fact nothing more than a
tragic accident that could happen to any one of us.  And I think it is an
important object lesson for all of us who are owned by ferrets--no matter
how long you own them, how much you know about safety and how well you think
you may have ferret-proofed your house, ferrets WILL get into trouble and
you can't overlook any possibility.  What follows is my reconstruction of
what happened based on several comments made by Chere and her
husband--neither of whom could really talk about what happened, they were so
upset.  (The accident happened on Sat.-Sun., I saw them Mon.)
 
Basically, several ferrets were out playing on the ferret fun porch on
Saturday.  Now this porch has been designed with the ferrets in mind--it has
reinforced metal screen over the bottom portion to prevent digging at the
screen and escaping.  When Chere went out to gather up the forces, she
noticed several ferrets were missing.  After searching a while, she found a
small hole in the screen and assumed that the fuzzies had gotten out.  Mind
you, Chere runs a disaster response center, and she knows what to do when a
ferret goes missing.  Not only did she manage to round up several dozen of
her neighbors to help look for them, she also had flyers printed and put up
almost immediately--all the things you are supposed to do.  They searched
well into the night, with no luck.
 
Chere made the only logical conclusion: missing ferrets + hole in screen =
ferrets escaped to the outside.  Unfortunately, the ferrets had never left
the house.  They were trapped in a large ferret fun ball, which had rolled
under a chair and gotten stuck with the opening downward so they couldn't
get out.  Two ferrets died, and at least one more was injured by the time
she found them less than a day later, on Sunday.
 
All in all, it was a really dreadful thing to have happen to one of the most
safety conscious people I have ever met.  The only reason I post this private
grief on this public forum is to give us all something to think about: Are
our ferret toys REALLY safe for them?  Even the toys manufactured for
ferrets can have hidden dangers.  What happens if the ferrets get caught in
something while we're at work, or asleep?  (Think about this even if you
keep your ferrets in a cage when you're not there--is your cage really safe,
no sharp edges, no possible escape holes?) I think we should all take time
to think about what could possibly go wrong with each of the toys our
ferrets play with.  We talk alot about the dangers of chewing off small bits
and getting blockages, and about the importance of ferretproofing our
houses, but what about other toys, other dangers?
 
Please, take this time to inspect all your toys and throw out any that are
worn or damaged.  And hug your ferrets extra tight when you say goodnight
tonight.
 
Jen
[Posted in FML issue 1585]