About a year ago I was dating a man I met online from New Zealand and
was actually contemplating moving there someday.
 
Ferrets are most definitely banned - period.  Those that had them at the
time of the ban were allowed to keep them (I believe they had to register
them, though, and pay a fee) but there were no further ferrets allowed
into the country.  Ironically enough, though, he found there were a
few breeders in New Zealand still but they maintained "Fort Knox"-like
facilities so that the ferrets couldn't escape.  They breed the ferrets
there then export them out to other countries.
 
What started this whole ferret ban were farmers that brought rabbits
with them into the country.  The rabbits then got loose and multiplied
as rabbits do.  Unlike other countries where there are foxes and other
predators that might help keep this population down - New Zealand didn't
have any.  New Zealand has lots of birds, lots of reptiles, marine life
such as seals and whales but NO predators.  So someone got the bright
idea of bringing ferrets to the country and setting them loose to control
the rabbit problem.  Well they did just that - but then they also started
eating the flightless birds and the flightless birds' eggs.  (I wonder
if they really thought the ferrets would go "Rabbit population under
control - ready to go back to the UK!" and line up at the airport????)
 
I did lots of searches on this and did find some pretty gross photos of
hunters with a spread of dead ferrets that they bagged.  It's really sad
because the problem was all man-made.  And the ferrets - and the ferret
lovers there that can no longer have ferrets - have to suffer for it.
 
Laura and The Seattle Seven at http://www.ferretocious.com
[Posted in FML issue 5147]