Yes, that is a black mink, not a ferret.

I have to agree w/ Alexandra re: her observation that mink belong in
the wild. Yes, I have a friend who has a few pet mink. While they are
gorgeous creatures, they are NOT as social as ferrets. This lady has a
*lot* of experience w/ mink, & what she says is that "mink are ferrets
on streoids". Their jaws alone are pure, unadulterated muscle.

I was once bitten by a tame pet mink. My fault totally - it was playing
w/ it's toys, carrying them to the bathtub, which was filled w/ water,
where it would then go in, swim around, & fish them out again. Amazing
to watch. I put my hand down to pick up my boots, near where,
unbeknownst to me, it had just hidden one of it's toys; & thinking I
was another toy, it got me. Bit clean through my right thumb in at
least 2 places (one place was through the thumbnail, to boot), & deep
into the skin in other places. I ended up w/ 5 depp or completely
penatrating bite wounds. The thing I remember was that I didn't feel
pain at first - what struck me was the *pressure*, the strength of it's
jaws. It literally felt like my thumb was being crushed. When I told it
to stop, it did, & continued about it's minky business of hauling it's
toys to the bathtub. The bleeding was very difficult to stop. I didn't
notice the pain until several minutes later.

My untrained observation is that, while mink can be tamed as pets to a
certain extent, they are hard-wired to be in the wild, they are fast, &
they are strong.

Not all beautiful things are meant to be kept as pets. Except for the
very, *very* experienced handler, mink are in that catagory, IMHO. I
don't think most of us could handle one as a pet. I know I'd never try
it.

(Oddball side note: When I went to the ER w/ my son a few days later, I
had them look at my thumb, just to be safe. Thye'd never seen a mink
bite before. They reported it to the county health department, who
later sent me a letter, telling me to be careful to watch for
infection, as I'd apparently been bitten by a mink. Our tax dollars
at work!)

Lin

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email me at:  kay tee en eye el at double-u owe aich dot ar ar dot
see owe em
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[Posted in FML 6826]