Kym wrote:-
>Okay!  That's it!  I have to put my 2 cents in.  And, no....I wasn't the
>one who called and called ya a killer Sandy.  Anyway, what is it with all
>the live food talk here???  I am beginning to get disgusted.  Aren't our
>ferrets DOMESTICATED????  Why would anyone feed them live fish, mice or
>chicks?  Reading some of these posts makes me want to vomit!  I would never
>let my ferts get involved in such an act as ripping apart and eating live
>animals.  I would think that that would make them a bit aggressive.
 
I feed my ferrets day old chick and whole rabbit (well paunched rabbit).
(There is no way I would buy goldfish just for them to kill for the heck of
it.)  The chicks are dead when I buy them from the hatchery, the rabbits
were probably ferreted i.e. the ferret was used to capture them.  BTW the
ferret is not supposed to catch and kill the rabbit, its job is to chase the
rabbit into a purse net where it is humanely dispatched by the ferreter.
 
Ferrets do not rip apart and eat live animals, the ferret is a very
efficient and quick killer.  Most go for the neck bite which severs the
spinal cord or crushes the base of the skull, they do use other methods but
Bob C wrote a much better article on it in a previous FML than I can.
 
Using a ferret for working does not make them aggressive - one of my workers
is also one of my best PR ferrets, I would let any child hold him and pet
him.
 
Talking of Domestication, isn't a cat domesticated?  Have you ever watched
the way a cat plays with a mouse before killing it - at least a ferret kills
quickly.
 
>I also love my ferrets very much and I think anyone who involves them in
>eating live meals are involving them in an aggressive, disgusting act.
 
As I've already stated ferrets do not eat live meals, they kill their prey
first.
 
>Woohoo....here we go....I am waiting for the flames....I can take
>it....!!!!  Actually, I kinda like it!  :)
 
I hope that you don't regard this as a flame - I'm just trying to put the
record straight.  OK?  Don't forget man domesticated the ferret to use as
a hunter and rodent operative.
 
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare & National Ferret Welfare Society Newsletter Editor
http://www.btinternet.com/~sheila/ferrets.htm (Last Update 10 May, 1998)
Waiting at Rainbow Bridge: Jill, Deanna Troi & Cameron
[Posted in FML issue 2326]