Mike, thank you for all that you did. I think you did well. And dont
feel bad about not picking up on the word "fingers". Actually, I didn't
either. I think it's because we are so mad about the snarky tones we
are receiving. This guy really buried himself and the paper though with
his ridiculous and emotional words. We all know it's impossible for a
ferret to A) eat whole, let alone large chunks of "fingers" and B) that
a ferrets stomach cannot hold 7 1/2 of them. So he lied. And buddy if
we find out from the necropsy that he did lie ... I suggest we call him
out on it PUBLICALLY. I'd like to call out that Sheriff as well for
being so unprofessional and misleading. But we need that report.

How do we get a copy of the necropsy report? Does it have to be made
public by law? Or is that something the police could legally hold onto
in a classified state forever? I'd like to know if a vet or a medical
examiner looked at this, because would a vet be legally savvy enough to
carefully word things such as "fingers" and would they know how much
volume of tissue consists of 7 1/2 fingers? Medical examiners are not
fully aware of many animal facts as well, but I imagine it would be
better for him to do the evaluation.

This is why I tried to call out all of the ferret communities friends
whom are experts in the pathology, anatomy, and the behavior of
ferrets. Shelters have a lot of clout due to experience. They are
experts and are extremely helpful during times like these. However,
that does not compare to someone with some fancy letters after their
name or an education to back up any statements. And what good is an
education if people don't use it to step up for the future and
betterment of these animals. Their conclusions and statements could be
used repeatedly whenever such a case as this comes up to prevent the
devastating repercussions that can come to ferrets and their owners in
the future.

Laura, spectacular observation about the lack of use of the world
"alleged". We all are angry about their jumping to conclusions but I
think we couldn't pin point how and why these articles and statements
from the sheriff were so biased and accusing.

I've received several helpful emails from people as far as England
about the volume of mice and such that their ferrets typically eat at
one sit in along with the bone structure of larger prey such as rabbits
that they can also ingest. I'm thankful for those. I thought I could
summarize what people said and even derive simple answers to my
questions but I can't. So, what I'll have to do in the end for the FML
is put up a web page with a write up of what I've found out and a few
statements/quotes with the authors permission. That way we can all
review it discuss it. Once again, perhaps someone with some sort of
"label" or solid reputation can back up things or better yet, refine
them to concise conclusions.

Wolfy

Ps, I believe this discussion has been a great one and I've learned a
lot about how a ferret eats and kills its prey. I particularly enjoyed
the one lady's post where she offered up her pet ferrets blood to lick
on her fingers and they refused due to imprinting and being properly
fed and cared for.

[Posted in FML 6951]