Just wanted to throw in my recollection of one time reading something in
Modern Ferret about a ferret named Phoenix who was blamed for attcking
a small child.  I went back through some old issues and couldn't find
the story.  But my recollection was that after he went through rabies
quarantine (and thankfully was not destroyed but a rescuer was allowed to
take him) it turned out that the baby had been bitten over and over on the
face, hands, and arms by RATS, not the ferret (big difference between rat
and ferret bites, in terms of appearance, I would imagine).
 
That's the only ferret attack on a child (that turned out to not even be
a ferret attack) that I've ever heard of.  I can't imagine where that
magazine got its figures.  When a dog kills a child it makes national
news; it's hard to believe that if there had been several instances of a
ferret mauling a child to death, we wouldn't have heard about it.
 
Sheesh.  I'd be more upset with the parents who would let a ferret just
sort of "hang out" unattended with a baby.  I love my crew, and they
wouldn't dream of biting me but I wouldn't trust them around an infant or
even a toddler without supervision.  Animals can have their "off" days
just like people.
 
I plan to contact the magazine via the web link offered, and ask where
they got these figures.  If they can't provide an actual source, I want
to see it retracted or corrected.  Even though it's an excerpt from a book
I still feel that they should have fact-checked it before printing it.
I'm going to find out what company published that guy's book and write to
them as well.  If there is validity to those figures, I want to know where
it came from.
 
Why am I so worked up?  Because someone will come along who is trying to
ban ferrets somewhere and they'll use this figure as proof that ferrets
attack and kill babies and since it's now been published in two sources,
many people who don't know anything about ferrets will believe it since
it's now "documented".  This is unacceptable.
 
-Heather
[Posted in FML issue 3660]