>Many farmers in this area would love to use ferrets to drive out "vermin"
>because of the dangers prairie dogs holes pose to their livestock!
 
I really hope you're not entertaining the thought of "using" ferrets to
control prairie dog population, for if you are, you will kill nothing other
than the ferrets.  Ferrets have no chance of survival on their own.  A
domestic ferret would probably see a prairie dog as a playmate rather than
something to kill.
 
Once upon a time, the beautiful black footed ferret (not of the domestic
ferret species) lived in abundance in the western plains.  Their primary
source of food was the prairie dog, but the ranchers, in their desire to
destroy the prairie dogs poisioned millions of acres of land (public land,
I might add).  They didn't make a dent in the prairie dog population, but
they poisioned and starved the black footed ferret to extinction.
 
>Why would ferret fanciers oppose using ferrets in the job they probably
>love to do?  I would think they'd be happier doing something like that
>then as being only pets.
 
Ferret lovers, at least those in the US, don't see their ferrets as "only
pets", they see them as family and not as expendable working animals.
 
Glenn J.
Chuki.....Can I have a prairie dog to play with?
[Posted in FML issue 2241]