Re: Mink
I think people are getting hung up on "domesticated" because the word is
used to both describe species of animals that have developed by man
(poodles, maine coon cats, ferrets, holstein cows, etc.) and wild animals
that live in captivity which are not "wild" in the truest sense.  The latter
may be "tame" or not.  Most of the time they do not have the skills
(hunting, hiding, etc.) needed for survival in the wild due to their life in
captivity.
 
Although their life was dismal at best on the fur farm, I feel sorry for
the mink let loose. They don't know how to hunt, how to avoid predators,
how to make a den, etc. Death due to starvation, cold, or raptor talons
is no favor to those animals.
 
We were visited by a mink last January.  She got stuck in our window well.
(It was too deep for her to get out.) At first we weren't sure if it was a
mink or an escapee fuzz-bean, but a couple wildlife guides later we were
sure.  She was beautiful.  The most gorgeous fur you have ever seen.  She
really didn't seem afraid of us (which added to our initial confusion), but
we were smart enough to not try to touch her at all.  We dropped cardboard
boxes into the well and she was able to climb up and out.  I think she may
have come visting to catch some of the fat mice that clean up the birdseed
underneath my bird feeder.  (It was bitter cold so streams and such were
frozen over.)
 
She and her kin are the only ones that look good wearing mink coats!
 
Winter Coats
Has anybody else noticed that their kids are extra fluffy this year?
Squirt's coat is nearly twice as long and fluffy as last winter or the
winter before.  Pippi has also put on more fur than winter-normal.  Even the
young-un's, Atlas and 'Jinx, are also getting extra fluffy.  I'm wondering
what that has to say about our up-coming winter here.  We just turned on the
heat a week or two back so the kids were getting all the temperature changes
that were happening, plus they also get lots of natural lighting.  Are there
other fluff-monsters out there?
 
-kim, mike, Squirt (the fluffy king), Pippi (fluffy too), Atlas (a fluffy
golden coat coming in), and Hijinx (a very golden goat coming in)
 
Kimberly Burkard     |             _    Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company|      _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York  | ____/     \___/  Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask]<____/\_---\_\    no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1382]