Deanna Dean's post about her ferrets unzipping their carrier reminded me of
the time I smuggled 2 of my own monsters into my office.  My coworkers had
been very curious about them, so I finally relented and stopped by the
office with them following a vet appointment one day.  I'm posting
anonymously because I work for a certain agency that is well-known to this
list and I've been told by persons who should know, that the FML is
monitored by them--relax--I don't live in California.  However, it's against
the rules to take pets into the office.
 
While we were there, the boy (I'll call him Mr. Ug) discovered that he could
unzip the soft-sided carrier.  Since the office is far from being
ferret-proofed, I found myself constantly poking heads back in and
rezipping.  Finally I hit upon the idea of fashioning a lock from a paper
clip.  I straightened out the clip and attached one end to the hole in the
zipper-pull, and attached the other to the ring that held the carrying
strap.  Feeling quite proud of myself for outsmarting Ug, which is no mean
feat, I said, "There, now get out of that!"
 
I should have known better.  Ug then proceeded to bite the stitches that
sewed the zipper into the bag, loosened them and pulled the zipper itself
out of the bag.  That would have been bad enough, but I really resented that
triumphant sneer on his face, as his head emerged once again.
 
Everybody else seemed to think that they were adorable, however.
 
I threw the carrier away.  Now they travel in heavy molded plastic with a
steel door.  So far, Ug hasn't figured out how to escape it.
[Posted in FML issue 2078]