Chris wrote:
>It is not really surprising there are no feral ferret colonies in the US
>and so many here in the UK.  We only have the fox around town and birds
>of pray in the countryside but they do not seem to take many ferrets or
>weasels.  It seems even the feral mink is having little impact on the
>larger wildlife as our native Polecat has recovered and now spread back
>in to most of England.
 
WONDERFUL NEWS!
 
Around here we have Eastern Coyotes.  Western ones take pet animals, too,
but the eastern ones are at times larger.  Those individuals are thought
to possibly have bred with dogs and maybe wolves as they moved east.  I
do not know which takes more pet animals, though.  In this area they have
taken not only small wild animals like rabbits, but have taken a few
deer, a few sheep, poultry, wild geese, wild turkeys, and pet cats and
dogs.  We also have our share of raccoons, both gray and red foxes, very
large owls, large hawks, sometimes eagles, etc.  I know of someone who
had an eagle fly off with a pet cat.
 
(Once at dusk Steve and I were out walking with a ferret, Haleakala,
and were repeatedly mobbed by a huge owl trying to grab her.  I finally
shoved her down my shirt neck, holding the shirt bottom closed, and made
head and neck movements like i was swallowing her the way a bird would.
That worked and we got home safely.  It is so long ago that I can't
recall if it was Great Grey or a Snowy.  We get both here.)
 
In the U.S. our rabbits do NOT form warrens, just smaller family burrows.
That is thought to also impact back when people tried to establish
ferrets here: harder hunting.
 
The large amount of wildlife also increases the shared diseases and
shared parasite risks.
 
If I recall right isn't the Canine Distemper risk there lower than
here, and don't you lack rabies?  ADV and parasites would still be a
consideration, off course, ditto bird flu.  Also, how is Britain for
heartworm?
 
Around here we have such pink night skies from NYC being 25 miles away as
the crow flies that we can provide better darkness indoors with careful
use of bedding and covers.  (Though we sadly can't get it perfect because
of housing being so expensive that there are some things with equipment
lights in the same room which has to do double duty.
 
In the ferret room there is a locked desk door which hides printer
paper and a garbage can.  Morney has figured out that she can jump and
knock/grab the key to turn it in the lock and then open the door.
 
A few days ago Hubble got underfoot, literally.  Two on my toes were over
his toes.  (He is fine.) He did that ferret cursing at me, and then he
looked me in the eye, lifted his foot, and stomped it down as hard as he
could on my toes!  LOL!  (His mouth healed wonderfully, BTW, but he is
still staying out of the shower since he got the shower drain cover stuck
on his mandible and behind all of his canines.  It must have hurt a lot,
poor sweetheart.)
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5224]