In regards to Wendy Hudson is FML issue 960
 
>In the end he saved the day by climbing out of the sweater of the hostage kid
>onto the bad guy and biting him in the neck, which distracted him long enough
>for the kid to get away. No unrealistic ferret leaps like in Beastmaster. My
>only criticism was the raccoon-type noises they had him make. I guess ferrets
>just aren't noisey enough for the Foley guys.
 
I don't know where your reference to Ferrets not jumping comes from
but, I had a Kit in a pet store jump through the air about 8-10ft into
my arms once. In addition my male Sable Golum used to get on the
counter top once in a while when I wasn't looking and on several
occasions I caught him leaping from the top to the rug below in a full
gait.  Fortunately he doesn't do this anymore, It could cause back
problems I'm told..
 
I have been reading the FML for about 6 month's now and I think there
are some gereral myths that lots of people who have Ferrets as Pets
seem to have. From what I have seen most of you keep your Ferrets Caged
most of the time letting them out to play for about an hour or so a
day. This in itself modifies the animals behaivior. I currently have
two Ferrets that have the run of the house like an indoor cat.  This
requires some planning and sacrifice. The place has to be Ferret
proofed,(holes, Refrig, littlering and caged when new guests in the
house), but generally I think my Ferrets are probably happier then
their caged brethern. I have a fenced back yard and let the ferrets out
every night for awhile. They seem to enjoy this alot. Of course they
have to be supervised but they generally come back in the house on
their own.
 
While I tend to agree with most of you that if our ferrets got loose
they probably would not survive for long especially Marshall farms
breed Ferrets as from my experience they mostly only eat dry cat or
Ferret food but, I have seen some locally breed Ferrrets, Whole not
nutered that  will hunt mice and eat Raw or Cooked Meat. I have no
doubt that they could survive if not thrive in the wild. Remember
Ferrets are nothing more than domesticated Polecats.
 
With the exception of Albino's, Intentional Freaks of nature in my
opinion and I do not believe they make as good Pets of the Sables etc;
. I had two black eyed whites and both were extremely tempermental. I
have talked to others that share this opinion.
 
I also agree with most of you that domestic Ferrets are not mean and
visious by nature but like all living creatures, including Humans, I
have seem some mean ones too, Whether this was due to cruel handling. I
thing in some cased it was but not always.
 
Some of you may say what is this guy rambling on about but I was
getting somewhat weary of the Yuppie!!! point of view and wanted to ad
my own thoughs about ferrets based on 8 years of owing ferrets as well
as reading as much as I can about Ferrets and their cousins. I resent
the cutesy attitude that  lots of pets owners in general have dressing
up their pets and taking them to see Santa Claus at the pet store at
Christmas time.  It is enough for me to appreiciate them for what they
are, Fellow living creatures with their own purpose, in natures great
plan. I even have a some guilt in being part of the whole domestication
thing, that we humans seem to think that every thing in this World was
put here for our consumption.
 
I hope that I haven't offended you good folks.  I just though I would
offer a little different outlook on the FML Further any criticizm woulf
be looked at thoughfully by me.
 
Thanks Bob    P.S. Ataboy for Northern Exposure even if it was @ NYC this time.
 
[You call members of the FML "yuppies", and then hope you haven't offended
anybody?  I think you need a basic course in tact.
 
May I also remind you that 8 years hardly makes you the reigning expert
on ferrets.  I've been running the FML that long.  And we have quite a
few people who've been keeping ferrets for 8 years and considerably
longer.  And a number of vets who wouldn't necessarily agree with you
either.
 
"Nothing more than domesticated polecats"?  You mean like a chihuahua
is nothing more than a domesticated wolf?  There are physical and
behavioural differences between ferrets and polecats, sufficiently so
that the British have different words for polecats, ferrets, and
polecat-ferret crosses, even though all three are raised in captivity.
The situation isn't altogether clear, even the experts don't agree.
 
It is clear that ferrets are closely related to Mustela Furo polecats
because they can interbreed.  But that doesn't mean much when you consider
how much variation there is amonst dogs and wolves, and they can all
interbreed too.
 
If ferrets can thrive in the wild, why haven't they?  They intentionally
tried to introduce ferrets into New Zealand and failed.  Ferrets have
been in North America for 300 years.  Where are the wild colonies?  There
are certainly wild dog packs around, why not ferrets?  Yes, there are
people who claim to have seen "wild ferrets", but when questioned, it
usually turns out that they can't even tell the difference between
a skunk and a ferret, let alone a weasel or mink and a ferret.]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0962]