This question was privately emailed from a member of the Fellow Ferret
Geeks, but I am posting it to both groups because of it's value.
 
Q: "I need a high profile published expert reference that would allow me
to make a strong case that ferrets are domesticated....also, one which
supports the use of Mustela furo...."
 
A: You expect me to help you after not giving me a straight line?
 
You asked for it:
 
Clutton-Brock, Juliet  1999  "A Natural History of Domesticated Animals,
2nd Edition."  Cambridge University Press; Cambridge. viii, 238 pp.
ISBN 0 521 63247 1 (hardback) 0 521 63495 4 (softback).
 
Juliet Clutton-Brock is a British zooarchaeologist specializing in
domestication, especially horses and canines (but not limited to those
species).  She currently is a Research Associate at the Natural History
Museum, London, is extremely well published, and is a Senior Editor for
the Journal of Zoology (London).  She is a Fellow at both the Zoological
Society of London and the Society of Antiquarie of London.  Is that
"expert" enough for you?
 
Pay close attention to p.220.  In a discussion of the difficulty of naming
domestic species, Clutton-Brock states: "....It has the disadvantage that
it assumes certain identification of the wild progenitor which for some
domestic animals, for example the ferret, may never be established."
 
Also see p.183: "The ferret is descended from a species of polecat,
Mustela, but it is not clear which species was first domesticated, nor
in what country."
 
Both quotes categorically state 1) the ferret is domesticated, and 2) the
wild ancestor of the ferret is unknown, making the use of Mustela furo
appropriate.
 
Personally, I have a few disagrements with some of her statements in the
portion regarding ferrets, but overall, the section is generally accurate
and superior to most short treatises on ferret domestication.  Except for
her statements of the ferret's trustworthiness as a pet, the rest is very
accurate.  The section is very short, which demonstrates Clutton-Brock's
lack of depth of personal knowledge, reflecting the general lack of
knowledge of early ferret domestication.  In other words, Clutton-Brock
repeats what is known (or provable), does not speculate nor repeat
erroneous ferret mythology (like the "Out of Egypt" idea), and is somewhat
hampered by a very slight anti-ferret bias.  The lack of personal knowledge
of ferrets, while resulting in a very slight anti-ferret bias, does not
harm the reliability of the remainder of the article.
 
Clutton-Brock is a world-recognized expert who supports the use of Mustela
furo as the scientific binomial for the domesticated ferret, recognizes the
domestication of the ferret as a fact, and readily admits the ancestral
polecat is unknown.
 
Good enough for jazz. Good enough for you?
 
Bob Crappy and 16 MO' Polecat Poopheads
[Posted in FML issue 2921]