Over the past two days, New Zealand has been in a furor over an apparent
'attack' on a two year old child in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
 
The story being told in most of the newspapers is that the ferret came into
the house through a catdoor, got into the sleeping boys bed, and started
attacking him.
 
They also say that he bit the child over the eye, extensive bites over his
arms and entire body.  The mother was apparently also bitten, and the owner
apparently told the Council to put the ferret down.
 
I have read a few of the stories now, and new things pop up, like that the
ferret was missing when this occured, and had been in that house on a
previous occasion trying to find food.
 
I managed to find the owner, and found out some other interesting details.
Such as... the child had rolled in his sleep, onto the ferret.  He had
bitten the child on the right arm only, and *had* scratched the arm
extensively.  The other arm and area above the eye were fine, if touched at
all (I kept a copy of the article on the television news).  The owner had
been searching for the ferret when the incident occured (they live only a
short distance away)
 
Fergus was a medium sized sable standard desexed male ferret.  In fact, his
first birthday would have been on Sunday.  His owner was told there was no
choice, that Fergus *had* to be put down (this was not by Animal Control,
who sympathised with the owner of the ferret, but the local Council, who
has been extensively trying to ban ferrets in the region for over a year)
 
Fergus was a well-loved member of the family, when he went missing he had a
collar and bell on, which he still had on when the incident occured.  The
parents of the child never considered handing the ferret over to the SPCA
in an attempt to find the owner when they first saw him, rather they
'scared it out the door'.
 
I am attempting to find contact addresses for the newspapers and television
stations that covered the story, and get people to explain what ferrets
really are like, not teh myth of the rabid, mangy, vicious killers, but of
the playful, fun-loving family members they are.
 
I'll spend part of tomorrow gathering what information I can on this case
and will be putting it up on the Ferrets In Need site ASAP.  For those
interested in knowing when it is ready, there is a mailing list on the
Ferrets In Need site that you can join in order to hear when any major
updates on the pages are made.
 
http://www.ferretfans.net or http://users.1st.net/hammock/ferrets/
 
Remeber to give your fuzzies an extra big hug tonight, and think of
Fergus's owner as she spends this Christmas without her beloved
family member.
 
Sam
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To see some awesome ferret cards, drop in on
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~fanmail/cards/ferretcard.htm
[Posted in FML issue 2529]