Re: San Juan issue
>Steward B. Reid, Ph.D, Haro Strait Biological Institute -
>"I have heard of sightings that may have been ferrets and have myself
>smelled mustelids on the island, although they might well be MINK."
After having a mink get caught in our window well a few winters back, I
learned how much minks and ferrets actually look a like. We had 2 ferrets
at the time and we had to look (through the window, of course!) carefully
at the mink and consulted wildlife guides to make sure it was a mink and
not an escapee ferret. Upon close inspection we could see the differences
between ferrets and minks, but at a glance, they look VERY similar. Once
we figured out she was a wild mink, we put stuff in the window well so she
could free herself. (We've left the stuff in the window well since we
wouldn't want any other animals to be trapped like that.)
Besides my own ferret-mink quandary, there have been others here who've
come across what they think is a ferret only to find out that it is really
a mink. Most recently on the FML there was someone who found 2 abandoned
baby minks. She thought they were ferrets to find out later that they were
actually minks.
If we ferret folks can have a hard time with mink-ferret identification,
surely those less familar with mustelids, like the general populace, would
be even more prone to mis-identification. So unless someone catches a feral
ferret on San Juan or elsewhere in the US, I would guess that whatever has
been sighted to be wild, native mustelids. Sightings that say otherwise
could obviously be very erroneous.
-kim, squirt (hears the call of the dirt), pippi (hears the call of the
socks), atlas (too busy moving stuff around to hear anything), and
jinx (hears the call of the teeth)
Kimberly Burkard | _ Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company| _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York | ____/ \___/ Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask] |<____/\_---\_\ no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[Posted in FML issue 2399]
|
