... i guess.
We've got a white dove living with us (I call it Pidgeon, everyone else
calls her Ezra... long story). The first time both the ferrets and Pidgeon
were out together was last night. I was worried about it but Dave said,
"eh, don't worry about it. She'll fly away before they even get close."
Yeah, words of wisdom I guess. We were watching with interest when my most
gentle and passive-resistant fert Sammy clammered up the steel fish
sculpture up to where Pidgeon was. Everything seemed fine. Pidgeon would
peck at Sammy's nose, he'd jerk back, almost fall off the sculpture, get his
grip, sniff again, and get pecked in the nose again. He wasn't getting
pecked hard, obviously, or else he would have split. Well, out of nowhere
he suddenly CHOMPED down on this poor bird's head. I immediately scruffed
him, and the bird tried to take off, yet he had that ferret grip. So I was
holding at arm's length this ferret with a white dove flapping wildly in
his mouth... if anyone was walking by our place it probably looked bad from
the windows. Well, Sammy finally let go, and both were pretty much fine
seconds later. Pidgeon was rattled, but not hurt, and Sammy needed a
feather picked out of his mouth.
Just a little lesson. I guess the most gentle of ferrets (Sammy is REALLY
non-aggressive) can sometimes feel the urge to give a bite. My theory is
that he just thought she was bright and soft, and he wanted to drag her into
a small hidey-hole so she could be properly inspected. "You know, Sammy," I
said, "biting the heads of white doves is not the way to help mustelid PR."
Happy Holidays everyone, I'm leaving for the great white north today, where
"the net" still means that thing that they have hanging in the boat house.
___________________________________
| Mark A. Pendl |
| Bear of Very Little Brain |
| [log in to unmask] |
| http://www.uwm.edu/~spam |
| In the heart of Maricopa Province |
\_________________________________/
[Posted in FML issue 2162]
|
