Here's some obscure ferret references I've found that I've been meaning to
post to the list for a while.
 
Anne McCaffrey, "Black Horses for the King" p 175
"'We've foxes as well as ferrets hereabouts and they do go for the
chickens.'"
 
Now, I wondered about that one.  The book is set in 5th century Britain at
the time of king Arthur.  Were ferrets domesticated in Britain at the time?
And if the ferrets referred to were wild they would presumably have been
polecats anyway.
 
Terry Pratchett, "Hogfather" p271
"The Senior Wrangler hummed cheerfully to himself as he ran a comb through
his beard for the second time and liberally sprinkled it with what would
turn out to be a preparation a of weasel extract for demon removal rather
than, as he assumed, a pleasant masculine scent.  * * It was, in fact, a
pleasant masculine scent.  But only to female weasels."
 
All right, so it's weasels not ferrets!  But as the owner of two rutting
full male almost weasels I thought it was funny!
 
Connie Willis, "The Last of the Winnebagos"
A sci fi short story set in a future time when dogs are extinct.  It is
implied that ferrets have gained widespread acceptance as pets.
 
John Marsden, "Tomorrow When the War Began"
A sci fi novel set in Australia which has been invaded by a neighboring
country.  A group of teenagers are hiding out in the hills.  One is killed
when she tries to get some ferrets to catch rabbits for food.  The ferrets
supposedly would not have starved after their owner was captured by the
invaders as they were free running and trained to come to a whistle.
 
And this one is so old I'm sure it's been posted before, but here goes -
BBC TV show, "The Goodies", the Big Bunny episode.
Bill and Tim are brainwashed into thinking they are rabbits and go around
beating people up wearing not only rabbit costumes but the bowler hats etc
from "A Clockwork Orange".  The Queen's Own Highland Ferrets (men in ferret
costumes) are sent to the rescue.
 
I think QOHF might be a good name for a ferret!
 
Kylie Preisig
Perth, Western Australia
The opinions posted here are not necessarily the opinions of my employer.
[Posted in FML issue 1876]