I borrowed a book this weekend called "The Complete Guide to Ferrets" by
James McKay, apparently a British author.  I'm not too far into the book
yet, but something just twelve pages in really struck me as odd, and I
wondered if anyone had the facts to back this up.
 
The book claims that a feral population of ferrets has become a danger to
the native fauna including the kakapo, and the national bird of New Zealand,
the kiwi.  Apparently in 1882 ferrets were introduced in order to control
the rabbit population, and the book claims that the ferrets have over run
the country to the point of being a threat.  I'd never heard this, and it
seems kind of amazing to me, is it really true?
 
What surprised me even more, was that the book says the same thing has
happened on San Juan Island, Washington.  I know a lot of people who
vacation in the San Juans (which are beautiful islands in Puget Sound,
north of Seattle), and no one ever said anything about a feral ferret
population.  The book says they were introduced for the same reasons, to
control the rabbit population.
 
The rest of the book is supposed to convey how wonderful ferrets are, as
pets, and even scolds those in Britian who breed and sell many ferret kits
just for rabbit hunting, and ferret racing.  Both of which are apparently
legal and popular in Europe.  In fact the latter sections of the book tell
how to go about rabbit hunting with your ferret.  Other interesting facts
are; if you don't have enough wild birds and other small animals to feed
your ferret, "don't dispair" road casualties are perfectly acceptable.
 
Needless to say, it's a very interesting book, but I'm not going to be
taking Gargy out to feast on a cat carcass on the side of the road, even
though Mr. Lipinski would probably applaud me.
 
So..is the ferret population over running New Zealand, or even worse..
little San Juan, Wa?
 
Robynn and Gargoyle ("they eat roadkill...ewwwww")
[Posted in FML issue 2390]