A Mr. Chris Berry tentatively reported on the book, The Outcast of Redwall,
authored by Brian Jaques, in a recent posting, and it read like an fairy tale
relationship between ferret, badger, and lotsa mice, or so I understand.
 
I am sorry to see such a book come to print, because of the falsity it
promotes wherein ferrets take up residence with their family Mustelidae
brother, the badger.  No, I have not read this book, but am passing on
factual information to readers who may not know the true adverserial
relationship between the ferret and the badger.
 
The badger is the deadly enemy of the ferret.  It is the only one predator
of the ferret that can dig the ferret out of its den, kill it and eat it.
 
Also, there is an interesting, but terrifying relationship between the
badger and the coyote.  These two predators work together to get and kill
their ferret prey.  And, most remarkably, they will share their kill.
 
The coyote, apparently with it exquisitely developed olfactory sense can
locate an occupied ferret den, and moreover, can locate and stand guard over
the ferret's most recently used escape tunnel opening.  The badger sets to
work digging at the other end of the den tunnel, the entrance, with the
ferret trapped between them.  Then as the badger digs his way deeper into
the den, and approaches the ferret, the terrified ferret will bolt out of
the escape opening, only to be snapped up by the wiley coyote.
 
My uncle, who is a hay/alfalfa/corn farmer, tells me that the sight of a
badger really going into the earth is just like looking at a miniature,
gushing oil well.  The exception of course is that the furious digging of
the badger throws up such a constant stream of dirt (not oil), nearly
vertical, so that it does look like a gusher.
 
To be sure, during the introduction of human-reared Mustela nigrapedes, the
Black-footed ferret, into its normal range in Wyoming, the biologists, vets
and state game people worked together to minimize the loss of ferrets to
coyotes.
 
Well, it's a mercifully quick death for the ferret, either in the jaws of
the badger or the coyote.  And of course, this is no fairy tale.  This is
the way it is, period.  I can only wonder, did the author, Mr. Brian Jaques,
know of this hunter/prey relationship between badger and ferret before he
wrote his book?
 
        Omnia bona bonis. [L.] All things are good to the good.
 
   Edward Frettchenvergnuegen Lipinski,  Der Frettchenlustbarkeitsfuehrer!
[Posted in FML issue 2145]