I read with mixed feeling the intentions of a UK shelter owner to collect
ferrets from southern counties of England.  Is he aware that counties he
names are right next to the county that is an Aleutian Disease hot-spot.
 
The Wessex Ferret Club have a stringent AD testing programme where all
their ferrets are annually tested for the disease.  The members of the
Wessex Club don't generally take their ferrets out of the area without a
current AD negative test certificate.
 
AD can be carried and passed on by a ferret which does not develop the
disease.  The only way to be sure that an AD positive ferret does not pass
on the disease is to cull it.  There is no preventative vaccine and no
cure for AD.
 
I advise anyone who has the interests of ferrets at heart to download the
following pages:
http://www.beechhouse.co.uk/beechhouse/ferrets.htm
Some ferrets were wrongly issued with negative test certificates at a
recent testing and were subsequently bred from - there are now a number
of kits in the area that will be AD positive.
 
Provided they are given a fair crack of the whip the WFC might eventually
eradicate the disease.  Therefore wholesale movements of ferrets between
southern counties is not to be recommended for the sake of the ferret if
nothing else unless the ferrets are AD tested negative.
 
A concerned ferret keeper.
 
[AB]
[Posted in FML issue 2744]