>Re: the claimed father of the popularity of ferrets: I suspect people who
>are in European families with generation after generation having had
>ferrets (some for hunting and some for pets) would take exception to the
>claim with very valid cause, I also suspect that there will be exceptions
>taken from the other end since the CURRENT American popularity is often
>traced to Wendy Winstead in the late 70s to early 80s because of how very
>hard she worked to popularize them and to try to teach a bit about them,
>but it will be very interesting to find out the information mentioned in
>Satuday's FML and if the date can be pushed back -- always possible.
>There are some marvelous ads for ferrets from the last century ...
 
when i was on the subway with a couple of my little guys i ran into an
elderly woman who rushed over to introduce herself to them.  she said
that when she was a little girl her father got some for hunting and her
mother took one look at them and declared that they were far too lovely
to live outside in the barn and brought them inside to keep where she
could be around them.  i suspect that if that lady (she must have been
70 or 80 at least) saw this guy claiming to be the first to keep ferrets
as pets she would laugh at him.
 
siani  (who has had quite a few elderly women tell her how beautiful
they find the ferrets, but just loved that one story:)
[Posted in FML issue 2673]