I've seen a pair of the Steppe Polecats at the D.C.  National Zoo some time
ago - think they were there as a temporary exhibit.  They do look a lot like
sable domestic ferrets, but they were much bigger.  I pity the ferret jill
who would get drug around and mounted by a polecat hob, or who had to give
birth to an oversized kit!  Would a polecat jill accept a ferret hob, or
just clean his clock?  From what I've seen, the European polecats are closer
in size to our ferrets.  Many of us who have ferrets of English stock will
have some "fitch ferret" - part polecat in our bloodlines.  However, right
now the European polecat is in danger of extinction - I hope I'm wrong, but
I think the only remaining wild population is in the mountains of Wales.
So, I think it would be better to direct our efforts and funds toward
restoring wild populations of polecats, rather than creating a new hybrid.
 
BTW, there used to be lots of European mink, but Russian fur traders decided
the American species was better - bigger, "better" fur, so they released a
bunch of them and now the original Euro-mink is found only in a small area
of the Baltic states.
J. Sanders
[Posted in FML issue 1601]