As you may or may not know, Dr Willard B. Nelson (Skip) of the Kirkland
Exotic Pet and Bird Clinic and his staff will be hosting the annual Ferret
Frolics/Ferret Olympics on Sunday,June 27, 1999 in Kirkland's Marina
waterfront park, as per his letter to me dated 1 July 1998.  (no German
helmet!)
 
Among the various activities that are planned for the ferrets and their
owners, I have requested from Dr. Nelson the priviledge of continuing my
efforts to compile additional data points on the average land run speed of
the domestic ferret as well as the average waterborne swim speed.  These
will be, it is anticipated, races for the ferrets, the same ferrets to
participate in both the trials for the land speed and the water speed.
These trials are not necessarily to find out who has the fastest or slowest
ferret on both land and in water, but certificates of Ferret Merit will be
awarded to each ferret owner whose ferret participates and the ferret's
speed(s) will be indicated on the dated certificate of Ferret Merit.
 
The reason I bring this subject to your attention this early is two-fold.
1.) A ferret owner who may wish to participate in the land and water races,
would be well advised to harness/leash train the ferret as soon as possible
so as to be able to control the ferret appropriate to walking in a straight
line, walking fast in a straight line, and lastly, training your ferret so
that it runs alongside you as you run for a short distance, at most 27 to
30 feet on a grassy surface.  2.) I would request the assistance of
handlers and timers who would time the ferret's speed over a distance of
precisely 25 feet to the 100th/second and record that particular ferret's
achievement in a record book.  Each ferret would have the opportunity to
run/swim three runs with the best time taken as the record for that ferret.
 
It is my plan to fabricate a clear, acrylic swim trough that will extend to
30 feet in length and be of sufficient width and depth such that the ferret
will swim without assistance a distance of exactly 25 feet, not in lake
water, but instead in clean and fresh tap water furnished by the City of
Kirkland.  This clear trough will be carefully plumbed so that the water
level is the same throughout its length and the trough will be elevated to
a level that makes for easy viewing and control of the ferret in the event
it would need to be withdrawn prior to completing the full length of the
swim.
 
To date I have accumulated 60+ data points contributed by ferrets yielding
a land speed of 3.856 mph and a water speed of 1.741 mph.  I hope to garner
in excess of 200 data points so that when these data are published there
will be sufficient data points to make the summary statistically
significant.
 
I am looking for assistance in this effort to be able to publish eventually
the average land and water speeds of our domestic ferret.  I need the
expertise of persons who have some experience in the fabricating of acrylic
plastics in order to construct 5 sections each 6 feet in length that can be
cojoined without appreciable leakage.  Also needed will be the most simple
structural design of the support structure to hold the swimming trough
plumbed, yet easily assembled and dismantled.
 
Thank you, Edward Lipinski   Any $ donations sent to WSFA, to Dr. Nelson,
or to me for this cause would be tremendously appreciated.
 
PS I'm also looking for assistance to build a ferret's wheel that would be
similar to the rotary exercise wheel seen in gerbil cages, only 10 or more
times larger.  The ferret's wheel would be freely rotating with the ferret
supplying the necessary torque to spin the wheel at his own pace.  The
number of revolutions would be timed and since the circumference of the
wheel is known, it would be simple to calculate the speed of the ferret in
mph.  This ferret wheel (my old one) is a colossal attractant at pet store
seminars and at other public educational functions in so far as it shows
the ferret in action and insulated from prying fingers of children (and
yes, even some ?adults?)
 
cc: Dr. W.B. Nelson EPBC in Kirkland, WA.
[Posted in FML issue 2575]