Q:"BOBB!!  Last night someone posted on the FML that they had a
   domesticated BBF!  Have you heard about this....?"
 
A: Black-footed ferrets?  Sure!  Have a dozen in the back!  Well, they are
sables, so they got black feet, right?  At least Carbone and Lady Noir has
very black feet.
 
First, the black-footed ferret is not domesticated, although they actually
do fit a few of the requirements (regulated breeding, human captivity,
but the same is now true for lots of zoo animals as well), all efforts
are being made so they remain a wild species.  They do remain the most
endangered mammal in North America, and barring any new reports from
Madagascar, Asia and South American, they were reported to be the rarest
mammal in the world.  I am not personally convinced the efforts at saving
the BBF will be successful--at least the idea of reintroducing them into
the wild without first stabilizing the prairie dog populations is rather
simplistic.  Still, much is learned from the efforts, and perhaps even if
the BBF is lost, the knowledge gleened will be of use in the protection of
the next endangered species.
 
What the person has can only be a BBF, a sable domesticated ferret, a tamed
one European polecat or steppe polecat.  If, in fact, they do have a BBF,
they had better hope the feds don't find out, because I believe the fines
are very high, and there is the possibility of mandatory jail time as well
(This is not just for live animals, but ANY part of their bodies as well,
including fur, teeth, bones, or tissue samples).  If they have one of the
two polecats, then they don't have a domesticated animal, and they should
be very careful with it; tamed animals are unpredicable and easily revert
to wild behaviors (you can add the BBF in here as well).  In other words,
sooner or later, someone will be hurt if the animal is treated like a
domesticated species.  There are also federal and state regulations
regarding the importation of wild polecats that the person should be aware
of, which could also include heavy fines and jail time.
 
The best and simplest answer is the person has a sable ferret, or perhaps a
siamese sable which has very dark legs.  My Tui is an amber-colored siamese
that, if his legs were a bit darker, would be the exact color of a BBF.
Having inspected the fur of dozens of preserved BBFs in national museums, I
can report with confidence that they are uniformly a dark yellow/light
orange (I call this a dark amber, but don't know it matches other peoples
idea of that color; if you have a Munsell soil color chart, I can give the
exact color numbers) with very dark brown feet, tail, mask and a spot on
the top of the "hump." They are also smaller than domesticated ferrets,
with BBF males a little larger than female domestic ferrets, and female
BBFs somewhat smaller.  While they are sexually dimorphic, the range of
sexual size difference in no way equals that found in domestic ferrets.
Finally, BBFs have a head that is more sharply pointed (or triangular)
and has larger ears than the domesticated ferret, which intensifies the
triangular look.  These are by no means the only differences, of course,
but they illustrate major differences exist between the two species.
 
Perhaps the person was told a false story in the hopes that they would buy
the ferret, or perhaps the seller was similarly misinformed.  If they do
have a BBF, they are in deep do-do, and the owner would be very smart to
call the authorities and plead clemency based on misinformation.
 
Bob C and 20 Mo' Furred Raisin Felons
[Posted in FML issue 2565]