Hi,
 
Anonymous Poster writes:
>in responce to steve's post... aren't ferrets considered domestic animals?
>then i wouldn't refer to them as "predators" unless they've been trained
>to be.
 
I would call ferrets preditors.  Yes they are domestic, but so are dogs and
cats.  They are preditors too.  This doesn't mean that they necessarily
kill things.  It means they are preditors based on their species.  Due to
being descended (or domesticated) from preditor species, makes them
preditors.  Just like cows are domesticated prey animals.
 
I have 3 dogs.  One will kill anything she can catch.  One is afraid of
anything smaller than himself (he's a lab) and will run from it (won't
kill a thing).  The final one sometimes kills, sometimes doesn't.
 
I have 5 cats.  2 have been known to catch and kill mice.  1 has been known
to crawl into the rat cage and groom the rats while she treats them like
kittens.  1 has no interest whatsoever in any prey-type animal.  The last
one plays with mice if he can catch them.  I don't think his ultimate goal
is death.
 
I have 9 ferrets at the moment.  1 has caught and killed a mouse.  None of
the others shows the slightest interest in any other animal except to play
with it.
 
So, even though most of the above animals won't kill a thing, they are all
preditors simply due to their ancestry.
 
Kim
[Posted in FML issue 3094]