Thanks to everyone who has written in about Podo.  There's no signs of her
yet, but I'm still trying.
 
I managed to track down the person I believed had stolen her, and found out
that despite evidence to the contrary (her habits etc) she must have
escaped the cage.  He obviously does not have her, which leaves me with the
fact that she somehow managed to find a way out of the cage.
 
For now, my cage has been left open, with plenty of food, water and bedding
in it in case she's able to come back and get back in.  So far, there's
been no sign that she's returned.  A few hours after her disappearance it
started raining, and has been doing so ever since.  Since Podo generally
sleeps while it rains (she's slept right through a couple of days before,
getting up only for food, water and poop before snuggling back in.  Rain
really makes her want to sleep) finding her will be mainly through seeing
signs of her - word from people who've seen her, ferret poop in buildings,
and signs of 'pawing' through areas... Since I live in the industrial
section of town, I have a somewhat unique situation, which can be both good
and bad.  There is nowhere she can get under any buildings here, which is
good.  There are no open drainpipes here, which is also good!  However,
Podo went missing late Friday morning, and if she'd curled up and gone to
sleep in a building nearby, she could have been locked in for the whole
weekend.  Which is bad.  The main buildings nearby I have already
thoroughly searched, especially the one that had a motion detector go off
at 1am the morning after she disappeared!  Still no signs :o(  I've had
people asking me whether I've found her yet, which is good, at least I know
that people are keeping their eyes open for her.  They know she is an older
ferret, and very calm, which I've emphasised several times, since in New
Zealand ferrets are classified as a wild animal.  I cannot advertise that
she is missing in the newspapers, since the local Department of
Conservation take exception to people owning ferrets.  They're willing to
look over them as long as there's no sign of any risk that they can 'get
loose'.  Local vets know she's missing, and once the office opens on
Monday, so will the local SPCA.  The person who manages the local SPCA
knows me anyway, and will make sure people know my Podo is missing.  The
rain isn't helping with flyers, so I'll be handing some out to the local
businesses as well as replacing the rain damaged.
 
Someone has offered a comment that they called the police when one of
theirs went missing once, and found theirs that way.  I hadn't thought of
this - the police don't tend to care much about "wild animals" but some of
them are good so it's worth a try.  Podo is a real homebody so she has to
be somewhere near, I know that.
 
Although I've had an escape once before (one ferret darting out while I
stepped into the cage) and I'd looked for her for hours before finding her
(following me in the bush!  The wretch!!) I've never had one go missing for
this long before.  Hopefully she'll be home soon.  Thanks to everyone for
their support, it's very, very appreciated.
 
Sam
[Posted in FML issue 2500]