I am writing this to parents who have young children that will take their
ferrets out for walks alone.  Please be sure your children understand HOW to
properly carry and/or walk your ferret.
 
I say this because yesterday my wife and I were driving down a busy street
in Scranton, PA, and we saw a little girl walking along the sidewalk
carrying what appeared to be a ferret.  As we got closer the little girl
held her right arm out and let the ferret fall out of her arms, dangling
this ferret by its leash in midair!  (At the time I didn't realize it was a
leash, I thought it was only a rope around the poor guys neck).  My wife
screamed, and I said to her "Stop the car!".  While I was saying this, the
little girl proceeded to "twirl" the ferret by its leash, all the way around
her body, still in midair!
 
Well, my wife stopped right in the middle of the road (almost causing
several accidents :-), and I jumped out of the car and ran to the little
girl (I can imagine what the people on the road thought - he is going to
kidnap that girl!!).
 
The girl appeared to be about 7-8 years old (I don't know, I don't have
children), and I said to her, "What are you doing to that poor ferret?!" She
said, "I'm just taking him for a walk, we're on our way home".  So, I
said,"Well, what are you doing hanging him by his neck??  Don't you know you
could hurt him??" By this time, I noticed the leash she was using was one of
those string ones that are around the cardboard ferret cutouts in pet
stores, I never liked them anyway.  I petted the ferret, and he seemed to be
ok, alert, but not really playful.  Tired, more than anything.  So, the
little girl says, "Oh, I do that to him all the time, he likes it." This
really irritated me, and I guess I got a little hot at this point, I said
"Well, DONT!!  He doesn't like it, how would you like to be hung by your
neck in midair and swung around??  And if you keep on doing that, he will
probably die, and you wouldn't like that now would you??" The little girl
looked a little scared an said "No".  I said, "I didn't think so.  So, just
be gentle with him, you can't do that to him.  Do you understand me?" And
she said "Yes".  So I petted the ferret again, and he seemed to be getting
playful, trying to nip and all, so I got back into my car, and followed the
girl for about a block and a half.  She carried him really tight in both of
her arms all the way.  I only hope a little of what I said made some sense
to her.
 
Anyway, I want to urge parents to be sure that their children know better
than to do this if they are ever walking the ferrets alone.
 
Thanks for indulging me.
 
Brian Walker
[Posted in FML issue 1637]