I've been getting alot of emails with questions lately, some have interest
to the rest of the FML:
 
Question: Can Ferrets go wild?  Get me the can opener, here come de worms.
If the question is can domestic ferrets revert to a wild state, reproduce,
and sustain a viable population?  Yes.  They do so in New Zealand and Great
Britain.  If the question is specific to ferrets as maintained in the United
States, the answer is no.
 
Why the difference?  Excluding kits and ferrets maintained by breeders,
ferrets are usually neutered; the most common ferret seen in pets stores is
probably from Marshall Farms, and I believe ALL they sell are neutered.  To
maintain a population, you have be be capable of breeding.  That alone makes
the establishment of a population impossible, even if lots of fuzzies
escaped and set up housekeeping in the wild.
 
However, to survive, you have to be able to eat, and since ferrets have a
limited span of time to learn the smell of foods, and most Americans feed
their beasties cat/ferret pelleted foods, it becomes quite difficult to
stalk the wild kibble high in the Sierras.  I was raised in that area, and
truthfully, I have NEVER seen a wild kibble, so it is unlikely the average
ferret can maintain it's body weight and/or life functions.  They will
starve.  Even if they do figure out what to eat, remember the neutering?
 
To establish a population, the interloper has to be able to steal the niche
from the native species.  In Britain, the native species is the European
polecat, and the two tend to split the niche, with polecats more wild, and
ferrets more in human environs.  From the latest studies I've read, both the
polecat and ferret populations have declined markedly in the last few
decades, partally due to the decline of rabbits, and partially due to the
invasion of the American mink.  The same mink is native to California, and
since it is rapidly spreading throughout Britain, while at the same time the
ferret and polacat is declining, what are the chances of the ferret stealing
its niche in the New World?  Not a chance in hell.
 
New Zealand is a special case in that there was an open niche for the
ferrets to fill.  Anti-ferret idiots like to say, "Lookie, lookie, the
ferrets killed the birdies!" but they forget polecats, weasels and stoats
were also released, and also helped muck up the place.  Carolyn King is
often misquoted about the mess, and has stated that it impossible to
attribute the loss of a single species to the ferret.  I might also point
out that ferrets are legal in New Zealand, and are kept as pets, as hunting
animals, and as fur animals.
 
I could go on and on, but the fact is, while the occasional U.S. ferret may
be able to live in the wild, it doesn't prove, even if you find it in such a
situation, that populations can be extablished that are capable of
sustaining themselves.  Like the wild boar, or wild dogs, or feral cats, or
horses, sheep, chickens., burros.........  Consider the historic fact that
ferrets have been in the New World nearly as long as the rest of these
animals; so where are the easily found and documented populations?  Answer:
if they could have, they would have, but they didn't, so they won't.
 
A related question asked if the ferret could take over the Black-footed
Ferret's niche.  The Siberian polecat could.  Maybe the European polecat.
But the ferret?  Excluding all the above objections, it still would have to
be a better predator for prairie dogs than the BBF, who evolved in that
specific niche to such a degree that eliminating the prairie dogs has almost
caused the extinction of the BBF.  Get serious.  Hey, prairie dogs live all
over Colorado, and the ferret is a legal pet in that state.  Where are the
prairie dog towns with resident ferrets?  None?  I thought so....
 
Last, I was asked what a hunting ferret was.  Well, its nothing more than a
domesticated ferret which is used to hunt rabbits; a time honored (and
poaching dishonored) sport throughout Europe.  Called ferreting, it involves
sending a ferret into the warren of the European rabbit (ancestor of the
domestic rabbit) and scaring them out.  They are usually trapped in nets,
caught by dogs, or otherwise dispatched.  Hunting with ferrets is illegal in
the U.S.
 
From everything I've read or seen, these animals are indistinguishable from
our own, except they are often larger and stockier.  (This could be from
diet, neutering, or genetics, or some combination) They are generally fed
meat on the bone, kept outside (even when it snows), and not normally
neutered.  You can understand why these animals can go feral when compared
to U.S.  ferrets.
 
Bob and the 13 Sofa Fitch.
[Posted in FML issue 1506]