I recently moved to a hillside/rural suburb of San Francisco where neighbors
are few and far between.  Since then I have been walking my fuzzie regularly
and letting him explore the area around my house in the hopes that, if he
did get out, he might actually find his way home.  About a month ago my
husband came home late with some relatives and accidently let my ferret out.
Within minutes (seconds?!) he had made it down to the street (our house is
about 100 yards up the hill from the street) where he was recovered by my
husband.  Last week he made another escape in the evening without anyone
noticing.  At about the time I started worrying about not having seen him
all morning I heard a scratching at the door...It was him!!  He was muddy
and VERY hungry.  I figure he must have been out at least 8 hours!  I feel
pretty confident that he had learned his way around the immediate area and
was able to find his way back.  I may have just been VERY lucky but I
encourage anyone to try to get their ferret acquainted with the area around
their home just in case!
 
LAP
[Posted in FML issue 1699]