Considering the question of whether ferrets are exotic, we dug into our
little library at home.  We like the dictionary the best:
 
"exotic: - being strangely beautiful in character"  (Webster's Pocket
Dictionary)
 
By that definition, every one of us (people included) is exotic.  We also
looked in a textbook designed for students in animal care professions, and
it says ...
 
"Exotic animals are animals which normally exist in the wild, but many of
them can be kept as household pets.  Some exotics can be trained and
domesticated."
 
That definition actually hurts us; it says that anything exotic is really
not a pet.  But then the book explains: exotic animals are also referred
to as small animals.  The book's list of examples of small/exotic animals
includes rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, mice, turtles,
snakes, lizards, iguanas, fish, squirrels, and other rodents.
 
Talk about your contradictions ... if this were taken to a court of law,
people could quote their favorite definitions of "exotic" to say that
ferrets are either domestic or wild.  With so many definitions out there,
the word "exotic" becomes a label and not much more.
 
Oh, or we could make the case that ferrets are strangely beautiful in
character.  We'll let you be the jury on that one. :-)
 
Love and dooks,
 
Ferris, Jeff, and Donna
[Posted in FML issue 2318]