After following the sad and sorry tale of the 3 NJ ferrets it makes me
realise just how lucky my gang are being English ferrets.  If they lived in
the USA they'd all have been decapitated by now - Fritz nipped my SO when he
rescued him from a gang of kids who were terrorising him, not the ferret's
fault he was frightened!  Dax, Max, McCoy and Daniel were about 5 months old
when we got 'em and hadn't been handled much and were a bit 'nippy' the
weren't vicious they just didn't know that their playful nips could
penetrate human skin!  Thank God for that stretch of water between us and
the rest of Europe.  Am I reading things correctly - rabies reaches a dead
end if it infects a ferret and that a ferret cannot pass it on?
 
If animals can be vaccinated against rabies and can be protected for a year
why can't humans be vaccinated and receive the same type of protection?  It
would save murdering innocent rabies free animals.  I mentioned the NJ
ferrets to another ferret owner and he summed it up by just saying "Well
it's America!" - does that sum it up or what?  Do DPH's in some states run
around like headless chickens, panic and scream "off with their heads" every
time someone gets nipped/scratched by a ferret?  Sorry if that sounding
insulting but it is actually soooo amazing that supposedly intelligent
adults can behave so illogically!  Why oh why can't they take one step back,
assess the situation calmly, quarantine the animal and start the course of
treatment for the victim.
 
Why on earth do breeders sell kits so young?  Over here most responsible
breeders run kits on until they are 12 weeks old.  It gives the kits a good
start in life, is not so traumatic for the mother - it must be terrible for
the jill to have her family taken away from her so early.  Why are kits
neutered so early?  Most vets in the UK won't neuter a male until the testes
can be felt and jills can be neutered around 6 months of age.  Does the
early neutering of ferrets cause the illnesses which seem to plague North
American ferrets?  Another cause could be diet, my gang are free fed
biscuits throughout the day and either day old chicks (culls from a
hatchery) or rabbit (ferreted) in the evening, all fed whole carcass to aid
digestion, plus they get the usual type of ferret treats.
 
Re European Polecat.
I believe that there are colonies of them in Scotland.  The North Wales
population is now spreading into parts of Shropshire, Cheshire and
Staffordshire.  The Vincent Wildlife Trust, 10 Lovat Lane, London, EC3R 8DT
could possibly give you the latest figures regarding the estimated
population.
 
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare & Newsletter Editor of the
National Ferret Welfare Society of the UK
The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily those of the NFWS
[Posted in FML issue 1603]