On Thu, 12 Nov 1998 19:55:51 EST Anonymous Poster [log in to unmask] wrote
>The several notes this week, especially the one from Great Britain, on
>keeping ferrets outdoors beg the question, WHY?
>Why have a ferret, or ferrets as is usually the case, as pets if you keep
>them outside all the time?
 
UK ferrets are primarily kept for hunting rabbits and are pets second.  A
working ferret is analogous to a working dog, it is kept to perform a
necessary job and not just because it is cute.  It has no 'right' to be
housed in the human quarters any more than I would let my dogs sleep in my
bedroom.  Not many people in the UK keep chickens or pigs in their house
either (they too are kept for a reason not just as pets).  Don't assume
that all ferrets are kept for the same reasons you keep them.
 
>Ferrets thrive on interaction with humans.
 
Maybe, but they thrive on ferret company too hence the reason more than one
is kept.
[Posted in FML issue 2493]