Without getting too much into an animal rights debate, I just have this to
say... when it comes to confrontations between animal and man, the animal
is more likely to end up the loser.
 
I am tired of hearing about bears destroyed in our national parks because
some stupid parent wanted their precious little Johnny to be in a photo
with a real live bear.  I am tired of hearing about cougars that are shot
because it ate the family dog, because the family decided they wanted to
live near the country.  And I am tired of hearing about how ferrets are so
vicious that they would attack a baby, and that they were destroyed because
the mother didn't have a brain, nor the common sense to do the right thing
and ferret proof the room, or supervise her child when they were out.
 
The way I was raised was to be respectful of nature in all of its forms
whether it be a pet or from the wild.  I am forever seeing the stupidity
of people who feel that, for some unknown reason, that they are immune to
the natural instincts of God's creatures.  What ever the reason the ferrets
went into the baby's crib will never be known, but the final decision to
have the ferrets destroyed was a path that did not need to be taken.
 
Toe nails in ferrets are sharp and can easily scratch my weather beaten
skin, so it would not be unlikely that the nails of a ferret would easily
scratch that of a baby's soft and tender face.  I can't tell you how many
times a ferret has run across my face in the middle of the night, and it
hurts, but it is not out of maliciousness that my ferrets do this.
 
Many people feed ferrets milk or milk products, and so could it not have
been that the ferrets were attracted to certain smells emanating from the
crib?  The list of what if's and maybe's could go on and on....
 
As for the mother, I agree wholeheartedly that she was stupid to allow the
ferrets access to a room where her baby was sleeping.  Accident or not, it
was her responsibility.  And because of her stupidity, ferrets had to die.
 
Whenever I meet up with potential ferret owners, I tell them that ferrets
are not vicious animals unless they were raised in conditions that made
them that way... no different than that for a cat or a dog.  And I tell
them that the media has a way of distorting the truth or the facts of any
one story.  It is hard to read the paper and not find bias in anything
written.... Just the other day, when I was in the vet's office, a pair of
elderly ladies started up a conversation with me.  When they found out I
was in with my ferret, the one woman recoiled in horror.  Her face screwed
up into one tight little ball.  Her disdain was quickly followed with a, "I
just read a story about a woman who was attacked by a ferret while she was
breast feeding her baby!" The other joined in and followed it with, "Yes, I
read that too and it was in a reputable magazine!" I did my best to tell
them that you can't believe everything you read, and after I gave a few
possibilities they seemed to be more at ease about the idea about living
with ferrets, although they would never have one.  They almost flipped when
they heard how many I had.  But that's what you get from dog people! ;-)
 
But what it all comes down to is point of view and perception.
 
When I told my father in law (who, coming from Scotland, rabbit hunted
with his pet ferrets all the time) about this story.  He nodded and said
that it was quite often he saw ferrets running across the fields with
babies dangling from their mouths... then he winked.  He then just shook
his head and rolled his eyes.
 
The bottom line once again, is that we need to educate people from the get
go.  No assuming that they know better because obviously, as in the case
with this so-called ferret experienced mother, she just didn't.  She gets
another chance to make her mistakes, but these ferrets never will.
 
Betty and Her Blur O'Fur
[Posted in FML issue 3101]