Last night an elderly couple came to our door and asked me whether
we were the "people who had ferrets".  I said yes.  They said that
a woman down the street had a baby ferret under a tree in their
front yard and were wondering if it was ours.  Couldn't be - ours are
adults and fixed.  So, I wandered down the street to look.  Talked
with the woman who said that a really tiny little skinny animal wandered
out from under the tree to say hello to bypassing people's feet.  Couldn't get
a really good impression exactly how big.  But it was "grey with a white
bib"...  Sounded like a weasel to me, but figgered that if it was behaving
that way, it had to be sick.   Couldn't see anything, warned them to
stay clear of it and went home.
 
About 15 minutes later the woman came pounding on our door and said that
it was trapped in their pool skimmer.  We went running back and you could
hear it squeaking - waking up the whole neighborhood.
 
We opened the top of the skimmer, and lo and behold, there was this *tiny*
little ferret shaped animal holding on for dear life on the top of the drain.
Fortunately a coke can was partially blocking the drain so that the suction
wasn't enough to drag the animal under.
 
I scooped it out with a salad spoon and put it in a hamster cage with
a towel.  The poor little thing was wet, cold, and shivering.  We
phoned the various humane society groups (this was a Sunday 10pm) and
nobody was able to help us.  Then, I decided to try our vet - fortunately
he was in his office doing something or other.  He's interested in the
local wildlife fostering programmes - trying to set up something official,
and he gave us a contact with the fostering programme who normally handled
baby squirrels, but had raised a weasel to be old enough to let loose.
He also made some suggestions on what to feed it.  We have phoned the
contact who gave us more info (tho, it looks like we know just as much
about mustilids), and my wife is also contacting the Toronto Zoo today.
 
Anyways, the situation: my wife and I appear to be (at least
temporarily) the proud foster parents of a 3-6 week old Least Weasel.
 
Eyes are open, apparently weaned (gobbled up about a 1/4 cup of watered
down Feline Maintenance since last night), full coat, and all of 4-5
inches long - nose to tip of tail.  Body size about the diameter of your
thumb.  Apparently full of health - bright-eyed, bushy tailed (figuratively),
and relatively fearless - isn't cowering, and squeaking defiance...
 
No sign whatsoever of the mother (we've carefully listened for her calling etc.)
 
Gorgeous little critter - ash grey coat with creamy white throat and belly.
Shaped almost exactly like a ferret, except a little slimmer (then again,
ours have a somewhat more reliable food source), that the head is a little
flatter and the snout a bit more rat-like.
 
Unless one of the local agencies wants to take it off our hands, it looks
like we'll have to raise it, teach it to hunt, and release it.  Without
being eaten in the process ;-)
 
Just in case it has some communicable problems (eg: rabies), we're keeping
it in strict isolation from our ferrets (on another floor...), and not
touching anything it has touched until we know a little more about its health.
However, considering its age, it probably simply got lost and is in perfect
health...
 
Anybody else done something like this?
 
Sheesh.
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0023]