Hi everyone,
First of all, I'd like to thank the people who emailed me about
Sebastian-- he's doing great and is happy to know so many people and
ferrets are thinking of him!
 
Now to the subject: I'm in a wildlife conservation class, and yesterday
we were talking about non-endemic species and their effect on native
wildlife.  Someone brought up the subject of ferrets and how you once
needed a permit to have them here (MA).  The professor asked if anyone
knew why they were illegal out west, and I told her about CA F&G is
misinformed as to ferrets being wild animals, able to form feral
colonies, and I explained that they have *very* little survival
instincts.
 
She then takes the gentle
"yes-dear-but-I-know-what-I'm-talking-about-and-you-do-not"
tone of voice and says that "even if it were only a period of three
months, it would wreak havoc on black-footed ferret populations".  I
wanted to explain that we were talking about periods of days here,
not months (do any of you know of a ferret who could survive in the
wilderness for three months?), not to mention the fact that the majority
of ferrets in the US are neutered and therefore can't reproduce, but
decided to let it drop for the time being.  But now there's a bee in
my bonnet: can anyone point me towards information on the black-footed
ferret, habitat destruction, competitors, etc.?  Have there been any
studies done on Mustela furo competing with Mustela negripes?  It's one
thing to run my mouth off in class, but it would be great if I could
find concrete fact to back up my argument.  It's a subject I'm really
interested in anyway-- maybe I could earn extra credit, hehe.  Thanks
everyone!
 
Rachel and the monsters
[Posted in FML issue 4420]