I'm back now.  I'm Edward Lipinski coming to you from an island just east
of Rainey Town Seattle.  Long time no see, read nor ruminate on the chatter
here on this list.  Maybe that's a blessing in disguise because I sure do
get anal reading some of the postings and can barely contain myself from
responding with utmost vigor.
 
My first question: Why are so many of us absolutely fearful of being
flamed?  From what I see, most of the flaming is blowtorching the messenger
rather than the message.  Often the flamer is making assumptions that have
no basis whatsoever in fact.  I wonder if the readiness to scorch is coming
mostly from emotion rather than a sincere dedication to the facts at hand.
 
I personally welcome being attacked (flamed) because it brings out the real
personality (and brains) of the scorcher.  It also gets right down to the
core issue that is THE assumed irritant to the scorcher.  My feeling is that
I welcome the "hot breath" of misdirected anguish, illogical assumptions,
and naked hatred.  Scorching vehemence is, to me, an intellectual microscope
into the heart of the scorcher.  As our great president says, "is" may be
"is," depending on how you define "is."
 
Dumb like a fox.  Church is.  What better way to get shelter operators to
open up and spill their guts.  The accusation is one of being collectors
(of ferrets).  I couldn't think of a better way to get a class of people
to "open up" than by a derogatory criticism of them in general.  My only
question is: so what's the big deal about being a collector?  Maybe better
one should ask just how the collector is taking care of the "collection"
given the circumstances at the geriatric wards in the shelters.
 
2nd Querry:  The poster from New Zealand was it? who spoke to the issue
of bovine TB being vectored by feral ferrets . . . is he sure that the
vector is not the badger?  Reason: several nites ago, saw a short TV news
segment about the suspected vector of bovine TB in England being the
British badger.  The clip showed a couple of feral badgers loping down a
grassy trail and they did not resemble our Amerikanischer badger at all.
Their body and head shape closely resembled that of the martin or fisher,
with the exception that their heads were striped, like the typical badger.
Anybody else see that TV news clip?
 
3rd Querry: Have two testiculated ferrets that lick my hand, fingers,
beard, chin, lips, nose, etc every chance they get.  No attempt to bite.
Why do they do this?  I would guess they like what they're tasting with
their tongues.  Do I taste good?  Maybe to them I do.  Maybe its a sign of
"brotherhood." Sometimes I notice they will repeatedly lick the back of the
necks of other ferrets - kinda like monkeys that groom each other, much to
their mutual content.  So if your ferret starts licking your hand, could be
he's doing the ferret equivalent of grooming.  Enjoy.
 
4th: Ferrets are subterranean dwellers by grace of their genetic
constitution.  Consider the native Amerikanische Black-footed Ferret.  A
ground dweller if there ever was one.  Methinks the domesticated one has a
strong kinship in this regard.  I notice out on the digging grounds (I
stake my ferrets out on 3-foot leash lines to a steel posts) my he-males
immediately start digging and soon have a tunnel dug.  They invade their
tunnels and turn around, curl into a "C," always pointing their heads to
the tunnel mouth.  On the other hand, my its ("its" being my terminology
for males with no balls) rarely dig to the extent of tunneling.  They seem
content to surface lie.  It would appear that their negativity toward
lumens or light is strongly diminished, possibly as a factor that they are
not he-males.  Which class of ferrets suffer the greater incidence of
adrenal disease?  The "its," right?
 
In the ferretarium housing our 40 or so Frettchens however, all the ferrets
will bury themselves, often with quiet deliberation, until they are totally
covered by the nest towel.  If their cage is provided with an enclosed nest
box, they always reside therein.
 
Now the question is: Do ferrets secrete themselves for the security of
their burrow, even when they're not in a burrow, or do they secrete
themselves to avoid lumens?  Or both?  They for sure show a preference
for security and the dark.  The high reflectivity of their retinas (green
glowing eyes at night) and the remnant infra-red sensors above each eye
strongly suggest a highly developed capability of nocturnal predation,
both subterranially and above.
 
5th Querry.  When will that new mother with an infant and 5 ferrets be
rushing to the hospital to have the infant's face or scalp sutured to close
the multiple lacerations that will be inflicted upon that innocent infant
by those 5 doggedly persistent ferrets to get at that infant (mother's own
words)?  I predict this is a disaster just waiting to happen.  Too, too
bad.  Why doesn't the American Ferret Association issue a nationally
publicised warning to protect against potential disasters such as this?
 
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2515]