Greetings,
about 2 months ago I joined your list (digest) and asked for anyone who has
ever lost AND LATER FOUND their ferret to please help participate in a study
on "lost ferret behavior."  This study was conducted by the National Center
for Missing Pets (NCMP) with the assistance of animal ethologist/researcher
Laura Lynn ([log in to unmask]).  I am ready to report the (limited)
results of our study.
 
We only had 27 cases for our study.  We really need to study more cases to
come up with more accurate data.  I am looking for any ferret owners with
writing experience to work with me to write an article for ferret magazines
about our research.  We can publish the results of the preliminary study
(below), but we really need to ask other ferret owners out there (who aren't
on-line) to participate in our study.  It would be great to study 200 of
these cases to give our investigators and ferret owners who lose a ferret
knowledge of where they should immediately look for their ferret.
 
Before we conducted this study, I knew very little about lost ferret
behavior.  Now I can tell my investigators specific information in just what
techniques they need to use to recover missing ferrets.  The study showed
ferrets and indoor cats (that escape outdoors) ARE FOUND EITHER AT THE
OWNERS HOME OR WITHIN A 1 HOUSE RADIUS 78% of the time (indoor cats the
percentage is higher, 90% of the time they are within 2 house radius).
When an investigator looks for an indoor cat that is missing, 99% of the
time the cat will be hiding out of fear underneath something.  But ferrets,
because they are social, may be found scratching on a neighbors door, war
dancing in a yard, chasing the neighbor's doberman.
 
The ferrets that were hiding in fear were usually the result of a traumatic
experience..such as pushing through an upstairs window and falling to the
ground or being chased by a dog.  Thus the technique for looking for a
missing indoor cat would be a flashlight & a search dog trained to alert on
the scent of missing cats, the technique best suited to find missing ferrets
is an aggressive interview process with neighbors and people in the area.
The question with a missing indoor cat is "Where is the kitty hiding?"
whereas the question with a missing ferret is "Who has the ferret?" Again,
both animals (indoor cats & ferrets) will typically remain within a small
radius but their behavior dictates what might happen to them...one will take
cover & stay, the other (guess who) will dance around with delight, play,
get hungry and start scratching on doors.
 
Of course there are the exceptions.  One ferret in our study traveled 5
blocks from home.  Again, we need more participants to see how often this
happens.  If you know of other e-mail lists for ferrets, please encourage
ferret owners to visit our website (www.missingpet.org), click on our "Lost
Pet Survey" and plug in their lost/found ferret story.  I thank those who
already helped us in our study.  I am sorry for the few who I spoke to who
have never found their ferrets and did not have closure...I understand the
emptiness and pain.  If you are interested in helping in our study,
volunteering with our efforts or in raising funds for our (struggling)
non-profit, please view our website to see what we are doing and then send
me private e-mail ([log in to unmask]).  The results of the study have
been sent in a 2nd e-mail.
 
Kat & Dogs
 
Kathy "Kat" Albrecht
Executive Director
                   National Center For Missing Pets
*Exciting Search & Rescue Stories *Tips on Finding Lost Pets *Forensic
Applications To Missing Pet Investigations *Pet Search & Rescue *If You Own
A Pet, Come Visit Us!
                      http://www.missingpet.org
[Posted in FML issue 2388]