Anonymous in CA asks what should the person who found the ferret have done?
It seems obvious to me that it was not too smart to let a youngster play
with an unknown ferret, and really dumb to let a neighbor's kid play with
it!  I won't let ANY neighbor kids handle our ferrets unless I'm RIGHT
THERE.  There are too many nuts in the world.  Nothing surprises me - a kid
could torment an innocent animal, the animal could react in terror, next
thing you know, the animal is being put down for rabies.  I would NEVER let
anybody handle my ferrets unless I knew that they could be trusted.  And I
would certainly not let my kids, or any kids, handle a strange animal ever,
under any circumstances.  Common sense !  !
 
So my answer to your question is, when the finder asked what to do til you
got there, I might have said, keep the ferret isolated in a safe place and
DO NOT HANDLE IT!
 
Not trying to flame anyone, sorry about my soap box.
 
Kat
[Posted in FML issue 1609]