Missed an issue of the FML...  I hope BIG allows this as it is some points
I've not seen expressed.
 
>From:    Edward Lipinski <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: HUSH LIL' BABY DON'T YOU CRY, ferret that bit you's gonna die
 
I did not remove any pictures from my page.  Particularly not at your
request.  You apparently ranted about a picture that never existed.  There
is a picture of Derek looking at a ferret kit.  There is a picture of
Derek sleeping with our Furball.  They are two of my very favorite ferret
pictures.  Well make that very favorite pictures with or with out ferrets.
 
>I have a little trouble with Mr. Killian's word "honestly."
 [and]
>Do we need more "honesty" as typified in the Zen posting and web page?
 
I'm somewhat offended that you are backhandedly calling me a liar.
 
>(Lipinski muses: the fault is the parents alone?  Hmmmm . . .  I wonder.)
 
Of course it is.  You can't blame an infant.  You can't blame people who
have web pages which is perhaps your oblique reference.  If there were
significant numbers of instances you could blame ferrets but there are
extremely few cases of ferrets attacking infants.  Very very few.  You
can't blame the neighbor down the street.  You can't blame the shopkeeper
on the busiest intersection in some provincial Chinese town.  Parents are
responsible for the protection of their children.  No good parent will
leave any infant unattended with any non-human creature.  Nor with a lot
of human creatures.
 
>Turn away from such and take the first step to find the answer(s), such
>as, for example, what miniscule percentage of the genetic map of the
>domesticated (?) ferret differs from the wolverine's, mink, weasel
>(ermine), martin, fisher, polecat, badger, otter, skunk and that rapacious
>killer of prairie dogs, the native American black-footed ferret?
 
The percentage of genetic similarity between ferret and other mustelids is
probably similar to the percentage of genetic similarity between humans and
some apes such as the bonobo and chimpanzee.  I think we agree the chimp
and bonobo (or pygmy chimp) are wild animals despite there being at least
98 to 99 percent just like our little human children.  When you stray from
the weasels into other mustelids the percentage grows.  Stray to the skunk
and you vary more.  Probably more than that barely 1 to 2 percent
difference for humans.
 
But genetically the ferret is nearly identical to the European polecat.
The dog in any of its breeds is nearly identical to the wolf.  And the
house tabby of any breed is nearly identical to the various sub species of
African wild cat.  Far far closer than a ferret is like a skunk.
 
You'd probably be surprised at the high percentage of genetic similarity
between ferrets and humans.  We are both mammals after all.
 
But I am reminded of the adversary of the Billy Goats Gruff...
 
-bill
--
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2560]