I am posting anon because of the nature of the situation.  I was juding
at the time and unbeknown to myself, my steward had ferrets entered into
the ring.
 
The steward was learning and little slower than I would have liked but as
a judge training, that's be expected.  Well at the time Novason solution
was used pretty exclusively as the main disinfect (going back 7 years or
so) and the ferrets seemed to like the taste.  Go figure.  Well anyhow, I
was done judging the ferret and as my steward was calculating, I called
the owner up and no one came right away.  Well I remember thinking how
long it was before the steward was just about done.  I went to hand the
ferret back to the owner and the whole hob, bit my wrist.  He went
through the top of my wrist with all four fangs.  I calmly tried to pry
him off but the more I did, the harder he grabbed and being that it was
right wrist and I was right handed, it was difficult for me to do this
alone.  So i politely asked another judge who didn't realize the urgency
right away.  Of course at this point, I had my arm off the table and was
turned away from the audience.  Before the other judge could get to me,
my steward attempted to grab the whole male by his back end near his hips
and pull.
 
Well being that it probably hurt the ferret, the ferret dug even deeper.
At this point, blood is gushing down my arm and onto my nice white outing
outfit.  Finally, after asking the steward not to grab and pull, the
other judge got to me and scruffed the ferret and pried his teeth out of
my wrist.  Luckily I didn't need stitches but I had four very deep gauge
wounds for 4 months.  It took nearly 6 hours for my wrist to stop
bleeding and lots of cold packets to slow the blood down.  Geting bitten
on the wrist is a scary thought, I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to
get his teeth out of my wrist or that he might nick a vein but luckily he
missed my vein by less than 1/8 inch.  After it was all said and done and
the ferret was back in his cage, the steward approached me and said it
was his ferret and he had never seen him bite anyone or even that hard.
I think it was a combination of factors but that was a the worst bite I
have ever received.
 
[LF]
[Posted in FML issue 5017]