This is the first installment of the feral series.  Because of the
limitations of the mailing list, endnotes will be the final post.  For those
who wish an unedited copy, they can e-mail me after the final installment,
and a copy will be provided complete with references, glossary and notes.
BC
 
Part One: A Comment on the feral debate in California.
 
One of the problems of arguing if ferrets can become feral is with the basic
definitions.  If you read a scientific paper, the definition might be
completely different than the one found from reading anti-ferret propaganda,
which might be different than the one found in a dictionary.  Why is this?
To be honest, it is an unethical way to make the data fit the problem and
prove a particular point, usually one at odds with the established facts.
 
For example, if I wanted to prove a particular species was forming feral
populations, I might define a feral animal as any animal found outside of a
captive environment, such as a home or pet store.  This maximizes the number
of incidents I can cite and inflates my data, making it look more powerful
than it really is.  This is what was done in the "Constantine Report"
(Constantine and Kiser 1988) to prove feral populations were a problem in
California.
 
The trouble with this approach is not all animals found in a noncaptive
environment are feral.  They could be lost or escapees, they could have been
abandoned by irresponsible owners, or any number of other possibilities that
preclude living in a feral state.  Additionally, these animals may be seen
at a point in time which they only appear to be surviving in a feral state;
a week later, and the individual might be dead, lost to disease or
starvation.  Finally, this approach does not control for the reliability of
the sighting.  For example, the body size of a particular species of
mustelid is not the same from place to place; in some states, shorttail
weasels are as big as the longtail weasels from another state.  In an area
without mink, longtail weasels can reach the size of ferrets.  Also, the
size range of mustelids is stairstepped because of sexual dimorphism.  Body
size might go from female least weasel, male least weasel, female shorttail
weasel, male shorttail weasel, female longtail weasel, male longtail weasel,
female ferret, male ferret, female mink, male mink.  So the female mink is
about the size of the male ferret, and the male longtail weasel is about the
size of the female ferret.  In a sighting, where the view of the animal
might only be measured in seconds, it is hard to tell which of the four is
running away from you as fast as they can.  Yet in papers such as the
Constantine Report, this type of sighting carries as much weight as the
discovery of a carcass.  This makes all the data unreliable, and proves the
unethical intent of the author.
 
What Constantine and Kiser needed was proof, but they were not able to find
a feral population to cite.  They were forced to accept data that would have
made any peer-reviewed journal to reject the paper.  They got around this by
self-publishing without review in the hopes that, once in print, the paper
would be accepted by the unwary public without comment.  What they should
have done was fieldwork, clearly defined and done by established scientific
theory so the results could be comparable to similar work done anywhere else
in the world.  This is no new trick; it has been done by thousands of
biologists for the last century and a half.  Entire books have been written
on the methods of how to quantify natural populations, and the dangers of
biasing the data.  In the case of the domesticated ferret, if any fieldwork
has been done in California, it has either never been published nor made
reference to, or the work was done by the same agencies who wish to keep the
ferret illegal, and the results suppressed because they disproved their
position.
 
Another question left unanswered is the reliability of the original
observer.  There exist published accounts of California Fish and Game
wardens mistaking longtail weasels for ferrets, and the same in reverse.  In
an investigation where the intent is to prove the point that ferrets can
become feral, and medium brown streak is pointed to with shouts of "feral
ferret." This is also in evidence in the Constantine and Kiser report, where
sighting were counted even though the person making the sighting was
untrained, unreliable, or mistaken.  (This same problem is encountered later
when the idea that ferrets are bloodthirsty is pushed.  Play activity such
as wardancing or hopping, are cited as aggressive events, and prrof of the
unreliable nature of the animal.) In any good science, such evidence is
discarded; it might be mentioned in passing, but it is not typically used as
part of the argument.
 
Constantine and Kiser might argue that what this paper is calling for are
the actual ferrets, and they are almost right.  Scat from latrines, skeletal
remains, photographs made in a scientific manner, reliable fieldwork, and
yes, dead carcasses are required in any field study, especially one that
impacts the citizens in negative ways.  If you can't catch one living in a
feral state, they are not there.  Feral cats, dogs, goats, burros, pigs and
horses are shot, trapped and abserved every day in California.  You can open
the bodies and see that they are eating, you can collect pollen, seeds, and
parasites from their fur and see where they have been, and you can open the
uterus to see if they've given birth.  This is done all the time with feral
animals, but never with the ferret.  The simplest proof of all is that which
is never offered; a single established feral colony in California.
 
This is the proof used by the California Fish and Game.
 
Next Installment:  Defining Feral Populations
 
Mo' Bob and the 18 Furry Farts (missing Gus)
[Posted in FML issue 1753]