I've been reading all the letters concerning ferrets , evolving, regressing,
ability to go feral etc.  I find it interesting that the term de-evolving
or regression is used to mark the underlying non-demestication aspect of
ferrets showing strange behaviours due to certain noises, etc, etc etc..
First of all, I wish to heck I could find the article from a discovery
magazine bought a couple years ago refering to dogs etc.  It was
interesting!  Basically it gave an interesting example of what domestication
of a species is.  The example used was a fox, from siberia I think.  What
this scientist was trying to do was domesticate this particular type of fox
as to eliminate the stress factor around humans on fur farms.  Apparently
the animals would be constantly stressed out in captivity and the result
would be poor fur quality ( hate fur farms anyways).  Over 20 generations(or
was that years, Im sure it was gen) of selective breeding...he had a fox
that would behave much like the domestic dog!  Ie: wag tail in greeting,
lick faces, no shy behaviors or stress in human presence, and generally do
all those wonderful doggie things.  He had selectively bred the most docile
foxes to each other to produce such a beast!  The only problem was, these
animals hardly resembled the fox anymore!  They had floppy ears and strange
colour variations!  No good for fur!!  This article was quite lengthy but
basically what he had done was produce an animal that was really a delayed
example of the parent.  IT exibited the behavior of a fox kit right down to
the flopped ears, not an adult.  But the recessive gene linked to this also
controled pigment etc and changed the animals' colour,ie: pie bald and other
unique patterns.  So basically, a dog is just really an adolescent wolf pup(
to an extent).  Also, the weight of a 100pound dog's brain (i think it was
weight) is half that of a wolf of equal size(watching my dogs, I am not
surprized *evil grin*).  So, maybe the domestic ferret is basically as such
compared to the wild ancestor..and really what domestication is , is a form
of de-evolving??  And nature will always try to correct what man has done
for survival purposes and some ferrets are just a little more "evolved "
than others!  :).  In any case....I see no reason to be labeling the ferret
as some bloodthirsty baby killer.  Good grief, I have seen far more
dangerous animals that we call domestic than the little ferret!  People just
need to use common sense and fight fear with education.  All of our pets
have the instinct and ability to hurt other people and pets under the right
(or rather, wrong) circumstances.  Ferrets, compared to dogs and cats, are
my least concern.  I have a 23 month old toddler and must , if anything,
protect the ferret from her overbearing attention.  Of course, he is deaf,
so I have no worries about him becoming alarmed by baby cries, HOwever, my
australian cattle dog (most exasperating breed I've owned to date) Carries
on like he wants to go after my child when she is crying (due to dingo
infusions in this breed?  wild dog?).  In any case, up to 100 -200 years
ago, our ancestors relied heavily upon our domestic creatures for food
protection and transportation,to name a few.  There was never any out cry
about the dangers of animals as everyone was well aware of behaviours and
dealing with, protecting ourselves and our youngsters, they were "educated"
in the care of these creatures and used common sense when dealing with
them..  We now no longer need animals( except for food), but rather choose
to keep them as companions.  If we were to look at my house hold of animals,
take lets say the dog, the ferret, the cat, the parrot and the toddler
(heheh) and there would be 5completely differant realities(perceptions)
going on in the same room!  So we take these creatures and expect them to
fit into what we consider a normal environment and wonder why we have
conflicts and problems.  Being the ones with the most (supposedly) evolved
minds, we are the ones responsible for protecting and ensuring safe
co-existance between all involved.  We humans have always been attempting to
push back nature and create our own environment to suit us instead of trying
to live harmoniously with nature itself.  In doing so many of us have
forgotten or never been taught about the natural world around us that is
slowly slipping away..jeeze, i am rambling now!  sorry........I just hate to
see a creature get labelled in ignorance.  I am not a vet or biologist or
zoologist or anything, I just have a keen interest in all the creatures I
share this planet with.  Sorry for such a big lengthy chunk of my thoughts
on this subject.  Hail to all fuzzies everywhere!
[Posted in FML issue 2259]