Q: "...You've said ferrets can't go feral for a number of reasons. But can
the feral ferrets in New Zealand be removed?"
 
A: Sure, just use Her Majesty's Fert Remover, found in the Fish and Game
Department at your local K-Mart.
 
You could try capture methods (with the idea of rescue and adoption) but I
think you would only lower the population slightly rather than actually
eliminate it.  You could breed and release sterile males, but with the same
problem and added costs.  Eliminating a species of animal from *any*
location without hunting and killing them is impractical, and perhaps
impossible, and I doubt if the ferret would be much of an exception.
 
Do I think they should be hunted to extinction?  Understand I'm a rabid
ecologist; while I am the first in line to say they should *never* have been
introduced to New Zealand, I will also say that was a century ago and it
might do as much harm to remove them now as it did to introduce them in the
first place.  What, you say?  Don't feral animals destroy the local animals,
driving them from their homes and some into extinction?
 
Well, yes and no.  When the ferrets were introduced into New Zealand, they
were introduced into an ecosystem that was *already* severely disrupted.  By
the time of the introduction of ferrets, the ecosystem contained feral
rabbits, sheep, goats, cattle, some elk, deer, and, oops I almost forgot,
humans.  NZ was isolated for such a long time that the only native mammals
on the island were a couple of bats.  When the Maori arrived, they brought
over some rats and doggies.  Then Europeans came and brought over an entire
zoo of mammals, which put the local ecology on the "dumpster fast-track."
Maori might have practiced some extinctions, but they were perfected by the
Europeans (a legacy *ALL* humans share, BTW).
 
Only after the rabbits started to eat grass intended for sheep did some
attempt at control begin; specifically, the introduction of predators.
Stoats, weasels, ferrets and polecats (not counting fox, dogs, cats, pigs,
and rats; introduced for other reasons) were all introduced to eliminate or
control the rabbits, but of course they failed because *PREDATOR POPULATION
LEVELS ARE CONTROLLED BY THE NUMBER OF PREY!* Lots of rabbits = lots of
ferrets, and few rabbits = few ferrets.  Its a law of nature.
 
Lots of people argue that ferrets caused the extinction of local animals,
but that is unprovable because they were never released by themselves.
Think of it this way: You have some land having two dozen quail living
inside your fence.  You release two dozen chickens, and a dozen turkeys.
Later, you notice the turkeys are suffering from lack of food because you
think the chickens are eating it all, so you let loose a fox, a stoat, a
weasel, a polecat, and a ferret to kill the chickens.  You also let your
dog, cat and pig into the yard to play, and a rat climbs over the fence.
When you return, almost all the quail are dead, the chickens are fewer but
still there, and the turkeys are still skinny.  Even if you saw a ferret eat
the quail, it doesn't mean it ate them all; after all, the other animals
haven't starved and died, have they?
 
Unless you've seen the extinction of a animal by the ferret, you will never
know who did it, especially a century after the fact.  In truth, they all
took some part, the degree of which is undeterminable.  So, who is to blame?
Not one of those animals got there on its own--all were introduced by
people.  The mammal *RESPONSIBLE* for the extinctions of animals on New
Zealand walks on two feet and sailed ships filled with exotic mammals.  It
was human beings.
 
But that was a century ago.  What about now?  While I'm not convinced the
ecosystem has bounced back completely, I'm sure stability has been achieved
in many regions, including those that currently contain ferrets.  Whatever
was going to go extinct has probably already done so, and the ferrets are
now in a balance with the other predators, all controlled by prey
populations.  So ecological stability now occurs in many parts of New
Zealand, even though that same ecology now contains ferrets, stoats,
weasels, fox, etc.  And if there is one thing I've learned from my
ecological studies, its "don't mess with stability."
 
Think of what would happen if the ferrets were removed overnight.  There
would suddenly be a giant hole in the predator community, one that would
certainly be filled by other predators, especially other mustelids.  What
would happen to the local prey species?  Would they have a population
explosion?  No matter what happens in the short run, in the end you would
have exactly what you have right now, except instead of ferrets you might
have an increase of stoats or weasels, or feral cats and dogs.  In other
words, nothing has changed except you have taken one piece out of the local
ecology.  And if there is one other thing I've learned from my ecological
studies, its "don't reduce ecological diversity."
 
(BTW, this is the key reason why the Ca Ca Fish and Gestapo are doo doo
heads; even *if* ferrets went feral in Ca Ca Land, it would only reduce the
numbers of some mink or weasels, the only animals that would be in direct
competition with it.  Since the ferret would hunt animals already
predator-aware, and ferret hunting methods are typical generic-mustelid,
*NOTHING* would change except the numbers of mustelid predators.  Now,
convince me the ferret is a *better* competitor than what is already there.
Doo-doo heads is *too* polite; they need a mental enema.)
 
So, since you can't restore what has already been lost, I say it is
important to try and achieve modern stability.  Removing the ferrets is not
only impractical, in the end it will achieve nothing.  What has been done is
done; let the ecosystem recover and if there is no room for ferrets, then
they will quietly disappear like billions of other species since time began.
If not, then they were important enough to have been left there.
 
The big problem in New Zealand was the lack of mammalian predators, and then
the large-scale introduction of exotic predators into a damaged ecosystem
filled with astounding numbers of prey species.  Under those conditions,
*ANY* animal could have been introduced.  Because of the special
circumstances surrounding the NZ feral ferret population, it cannot be
compared to those in California.
 
Bob C and 20 MO Feral House Ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 2178]