>I just got off the phone with a local vet assistant, and am left with a
>couple of questions. First, she told me of a case or cases of wild ferrets
>in or around Salt Lake City. Supposedly, owners who didn't want them were
>dumping them in the woods where they went feral and began to breed. Does
>anyone know anything a bout this? If not, is there anyone in Salt Lake that
>can look into it?
That is a pile of crap. I live in Salt Lake, and first off, ferrets were
illegal to buy or sale until a few months ago. Even if people did release
them, our mountains are FULL of birds of prey, and we have the coldest
winters in the west...down to 40 below. It gets very hot in the summer, and
very dry. No ferret could survive all that.
When we were fighting to make them legal I researched and talked to many
people..there are ZERO feral colonies. It could be possible that a ferret
or two could have been seen in the mountains, but they would have died very
quickly. The mountains here are very poor conditions for a ferret. I also
find it hard to believe that people were just releasing them, as waiting
lists for fur-butts, and prices up to 400 dollars were not uncommon until
very recently.
There is, however, a feral colony of minks in Salt Lake, formed by escapees
from the mink farms. Maybe that is where this vet got the idea from? And,
once in awhile, our over-active animal liberationists have released ferret
farms, mink farms, and the like...but only the mink have survived..all
others died.
Well, I hoped this helped!
Kristine and the zoo....
[Posted in FML issue 1979]
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