Robin Jones wrote:
>What you don't see on that site, (but if you write to the DFG department
>you can get a copy of) is the results of the nation wide survey they
>took in 1996 (1996-97 Nationwide Ferret Survey of State Wildlife
>Agencies). To DFG's dismay they found that there were no feral colonys
>of ferrets anywhere in the US.
The Survey you refer to states:
Stray Ferrets in Urban Areas
Most states reported having knowledge of stray ferrets in urban areas.
Fifteen states (30%) reported "None", 28 states (56%) reported them to
be "Rare" or "Sporadic", and New Mexico and Georgia (4%) reported them
to be "Common" and "Frequent", respectively. Five states (10%) reported
"Unknown" or gave no response (Appendix B-7).
No responses or the response "Unknown" were received from Kansas,
Louisiana, Maine, Montana, and Oregon regarding strays in urban areas.
Ferrets Surviving in the Wild
Five states (10%) (Alaska, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington and
Wyoming) reported free-living individual ferrets documented as having
survived more than a few days in the wild. Three states (Kansas, Montana
and Rhode Island) (6%) reported "Unknown". The other states reported
having no such documentation (Appendix B-7).
It was also interesting to note that there was no conclusive methods used
to assess the status of ferrets in the wild. Still, if the DFG is as
unreliable in their reports as you say they are then the whole report is
meaningless and proves nothing.
Incidentally, I had already read the stuff on the Californians For Ferret
Legalization website and I agree there is a lot of nonsense put about as
reasons for nor allowing ownership of ferrets. Indeed I sent an e-mail
about a year ago to the governor of CA voicing my concerns over the ban.
Needless to say, I got no response.
Sukie Crandall wrote:
>If you read the natural history stuff by Bob Church which I recommended
>you will find a good deal of useful info in there. You'll also greatly
>enjoy the excellent work of Theirry Lode.<
I greatly admire Bob Church for his writing, although I have to admit to
never having heard of Theirry Lode.
>That is very interesting quote form that sporting paper. Has the
>population been studied at all by scientists to better know what the
>populations are and the dynamics involved, and even which types of
>minks those are? If so, could you give the info specifics so that
>others here can look it up?
I have contacted the author of the article, unfortunately she is unable
to give me the information you asked for other than the scientists accept
the fact that the ferrets exist on the island and like the mink they have
obtained [$?] 1.64m of public money to eradicate them and that they (the
scientists)have now turned their attention to the hedgehogs but public
feeling is against them doing anything about the hedgehogs.
I did find a number of sites containing information about feral ferrets
in places as diverse as New Zealand, Jersey, The Hebrides and Mull. The
links are as follows:
http://www.rsnz.govt.nz/publish/nzjz/1995/84.php
http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WorcRecd/Issue7/polecat.htm
http://www.earthdogrunningdog.com/articles/ewan_hebrideantale.htm
http://www.holidaymull.org/wildlife.html
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:Hq7r6sD6c2QC:www.env.gov.je/pdfs/
mammal%2520survey.PDF++%22feral+ferrets+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Oh, an interesting fact about the feral ferrets in The Hebrides is, all
the ferrets in the north are pink eyed whites and the ferrets in the
south are polecat coloured. Very rarely do you see the two colours on
the same island.
>That is one reason that most of the ones who get loose die if they
>aren't found quickly
You say most: so you agree with the possibility that a few could
survive? :)
George
[Posted in FML issue 4025]
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