As the owner of two domestic ferret sister-girls, Calypso and Calliope,
I've enjoyed receiving the benefit of your collective experience as ferret
owners through FML.  I would, however, like to correct some misinformation
that's turned up on the list regarding black-footed ferrets and the
"adoption" program, as I am the Black-Footed Ferret Fund Coordinator for
the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Implementation Team, and the one who
started and runs the BFF adoptions.  As several of your readers noted, BFFs
are highly endangered and not available as pets.  It would be extremely
hard to trap one to sell to someone, anyway (and highly illegal), as they
are nocturnal burrowers living in small remote communities where they have
been released thru the BFFRIT program.  We have about 450 BFFs in the
captive breeding program, and at 20 zoos throughout the U.S.  and in
Toronto.  1998 was a record year for kits and about 220+ were released into
the wild in six Rocky Mountain states in hopes they'll establish viable
communities on their own.  They are breeding in the wild and, to my
knowledge, have never been interbred with Siberian pole cats.  Pole cats
have been used in studies to advance knowledge about BFFs because of their
similarities, but no one in the program wants BFFs to become some kind of
hybrid; we're trying to save the original species.  One reader suggested
that we sent only a picture as part of the adoption program.  That is
incorrect.  For sponsorship of a BFF that you choose by name, you receive
an insulated ferret logo lunch bag, a picture of your ferret, a biography,
an adoption certificate and two updates a year.  You can also adopt more
than one.  About 3/4 of the fee goes directly to the recovery effort to
help re-establish BFFs in the prairie grasslands that are their home.  I
have tons of info on BFFs and would be happy to talk to those of you who
have questions or would like to adopt.  Call me at (303)236-8145, ext.
687.  Thanks so much to Ernie, Lisa and Scott at Ferret-Haven-By-The-Sea
for putting us on their web site and for adopting Kiva and Cochise.  Your
support means a lot.
 
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[Posted in FML issue 2571]