If everyone took offense at animal cartoons depicting the commonly-held
belief that ferrets were somehow shifty, sneaky, and otherwise nippy; and
also took offense when the term was used to describe someone in a TV show as
shifty; then shouldn't we also raise a ruckus when cows are portrayed as
stupid, foxes as sly, dogs and cats hating each other "instinctively",
vultures as "unclean", etc etc...(vultures, for one, are HIGHLY
misunderstood!!)?  For Pete's sake, guys, humor is pretty much based on its
opposite.  And while I am certainly all for educating the populace on the
wonderfulness of ferrets, or of vultures, for that matter, I certainly don't
take offense at the slightest comment made by a TV character or cartoonist!
When an animal becomes a verb (to ferret out something....to dog a
trail....) then there is generally a trait that has been noticed for many
many years....and getting people to change that impression is incredibly
difficult.  How many wolves are bad guys in movies and stories?  Look at the
Redwall books!  All the carnivores are the bad guys, and the rodents (who
destroy crops) are the good guys!  They seem to ignore the fact that a
badger is likely to eat a mouse if the opportunity arises... Getting upset
over a minor reference or cartoon is just going to make you look over
sensitive, and turn people off because they think you're "just" a
fanatic.... what we need is more rational education like the ferret shows
and all the other ferret activities I read about here on FML.  Fanatics do
more to hurt the cause than help it.  It's like "crying Wolf"....
 
OK - another vent --- wouldn't it be counter productive to have "fake"
fingers for a ferret to bite, when the whole point is to KEEP it from biting
at all?  Wouldn't that make him think it was OK to bite fingers???
 
About velcro --- oh yes, ferrets can undo velcro -- and pretty quickly at
that!  I once bought (like an idiot) a ferret halter - marketed specifically
AS a ferret halter -- and when I got it out of the package, I realized it
was velcro-fastened.  Well, I tried it anyway.  My fuzrats were about 4
months old at the time, and within about 3.5 seconds, Bear had his turned
completely upside down and around his tummy, and Lynx was running around
with his in his teeth.... the velcro they thought was pretty fun to chew....
Also, before I ferret-proofed (HA!) the kitchen cabinets, I had them duct
taped closed ... and I watched ALL 3 ferrets figure out how to work together
to peel off the duct tape piece by piece!  They never got enough off to
actually get into the cabinet, but they sure had the concept down pat!
NEVER underestimate the power of those ferrety brain cells!
 
Otter
Lynx,Silk,Drifter, & Muggsy(meow)
[Posted in FML issue 1889]