>From:    oblenia <[log in to unmask]>
>I just read the post from the Dec. 30th FML post...
>
>This kind of press coverage on ferrets, to me, is not helping to make the
>general public aware accurately of ferrets.  It portrays them as wild
>ferrets, referring to them as "Ferrets, widely used for hunting rabbits",
>and "Using tiny nylon harnesses, the cables are rigged up to the ferrets
>which are then encouraged down the tunnel entrance, sometimes by putting a
>bit of meat at the other end.  " I feel this kind of info does not show
>them to be domestic pets, but rather wild or work animals.  It is cool that
>they can be helpful in pulling cable, but that sounds like it could open up
>a whole can of worms on ethical treatment of animals and health issues.
 
To us in the UK it is damn good press coverage for ferrets, it puts the
ferret in an excellent light... A heck of a lot of folk in the UK think of
ferrets as vicious, smelly animals and if we can educate people to think of
them as doing other work besides hunting so much the better.
 
The dog is used for hunting but is not regarded as a wild animal, the
domestic cat will hunt small mammals and birds but isn't regarded as a
wild animal...
 
In the UK a lot of ferrets are used for hunting, do eat raw meat
(preferably whole carcase - the product of a hunting expedition), however
the ferret is also being accepted as a house pet but even house pets will
be used for 'working'.  If the ferret was a 'wild' animal it would be
totally useless for a working partner, it would take off into the wild blue
yonder.  A working ferret shouldn't be nippy - the ferreter should be able
to put his/her arm into the rabbit bury to remove rabbits from a stop end
without the ferret taking a nip.
 
I doubt if most American ferrets would shape up at all when it came to
working, from what I've read on the FML most of them appear to have lost
their hunting instinct.
 
BTW using ferrets for dragging cables through conduits isn't a new idea.
It's perfectly natural for a ferret to want to explore pipes, tubes,
underground passages etc.  If the ferret is wearing a harness and dragging
a length of twine attached to a cable so what?  If it saves digging holes,
ripping up floorboards good for the ferret... more power to its working
ability and usefulness.
 
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare.
Membership Secretary & Editor of The National Ferret Welfare Society.
Web Site: www.btinternet.com/~sheila/ferrets.htm  last update 14 December
1999
Waiting at Rainbow Bridge: Jill, Deanna Troy, Cameron, Carnath, Button,
Bill, Bobby, Jasper, Inga, Holly & Fergle
The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of the NFWS.
[Posted in FML issue 2918]