Q: "Can you comment on this?  [Thread regarding wild weasel sporting a
    mask, seen by an FML person]"
 
A: Comment?  Me make a comment?  You mean spout off?  Ok, if strangers
   wanted to look at my longtail weasel, I'd wear a wask too.
 
Considering the fur description, size and geographic location, the animal
can only be a longtailed weasel, _Mustela_frenata_.  They are quite common
in the area and can be as large as a female domesticated ferret (sometimes
a little bit larger although it would be quite unusual for them to ever get
as large as a male ferret).
 
Shorttailed weasels, or ermine, are 1) much smaller, 2) are rarely masked,
and 3) not as commonly seen.  Even if black-footed ferrets were secretly
released in you area, it would only be in a prairie dog colony and you can
be sure it would be isolated to minimize the distemper as well as illegal
collection or killing.  Considering things, your chance of seeing one is
not nearly as good as being struck by lightning.  Besides, the blackfooted
ferret lacks the black tail tip; they are extremely similar in color to a
cinnamon siamese sable, having nearly black tail, legs and facial markings,
a rust colored coat, with a darkened patch on the ferret's "hump," and an
almost pure white facial mask.  At least, that's what I saw when studying
the skins in US museums.  A marten is about the size of a domesticated
ferret, but is mostly uniform in color and would be found in trees.  Some
martens have a darkened tail tip, as well as a sort of mask, but their fur
is essentially uniform in color.  They also have ears that are mostly
triangular--like a cat--which is not mentioned.  Because of size, there is
no way it could be a least weasel or a fisher.  As for the chance of it
bing a domesticated ferret, the fact that the stomach was reported to be a
different color than the rest of the coat just about excludes the
possibilty; polecats (European, steppe, blackfooted ferret and
sdomesticated ferret) tend to have stomach fur matching the rest of the
body.  Ferrets can have black tails, but I have never seen one with onlt
the tail tip being black, which is almost exclusive to the smaller weasels
and is very prominant when in their winter coats.
 
Longtailed weasels have a lifeway very similar to both polecats and
blackfooted ferrets, mostly hunting and denning underground.  They tend to
go after ground squirrels, rats, voles, mice, snakes, and insects, with
minor snacks of bird (quail) and amphibians thrown in.  They tame down
well, especially when taken very young, but they are quite unreliable with
people other than the owner.  In behavior and habit, it is quite similar to
the domesticated ferret.  They also war dance and poof and hiss and dook
and poop in the corner.
 
Bob C and 20 Mo Masked Weasel Wannabees
[Posted in FML issue 2517]