Karen Wrote:
>The organization involved is called Performing Animals Welfare Society
>(PAWS).  On the segment they discussed how wild animals used for
>pets are dangerous becuase of the harm they can do to small children.
>Unfortunately they used ferrets as one of the examples...
>
>email:  [log in to unmask]
>web addy:  www.pawsweb.org
>snail mail:
> PO Box 849 Galt
> CA  95632
 
Because some people only listen to degrees, texts, and journals, and
since they will likely have vet texts handy folks can refer them to Page
3 in _Biology and Diseases of the Ferret, second edition_ , James Fox
editor and author, Williams and Wilkins Publishing, 1998, ISBN
0-683-30034-2
 
(See also pages 13 and 14 to see estimates of companion ferret numbers
in the U.S., for of over 7 million in 1990.)
and
Page 2 in _Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents, Clinical Medicine and
Surgery, second edition_, Katherine E. Quesenberry and James W.
Carpenter editors and authors, Saunders Publishing, 2004, ISBN
0-7216-9377-6
and
Page 3 in _Ferret Husbandry, Medicine & Surgery, John H. Lewington
author and editor, Butterworth Heinemann Publishing, 2000, ISBN
0-7506-4251-3
 
Both of those also give multiple references, and I suspect that a bit
of searching will find journal refs on origin of domestication to
provide further support.
 
Being able to give book titles and journal articles is VERY useful for
any legal challenges, too, so if there is not already a list of these
in the FML Archives or Ferretcentral.org or elsewhere it would be a BIG
help to anyone facing legal challenges, local or larger, to have these
handy, so if you find them, please, post them!  Thanks much!
 
Here are some of the listed refs with intriguing titles in the appendices
of these sections which may be useful.  I do not have time to look into
them further at this time.  I think Bob has mentioned some and think he
did so here and elsewhere but I am so busy and tired recently with PT and
healing that I don't trust my memory offhand without checking, so look.
Anyway, here you are for a very few which might have promise:
Apfelbach, R:  Olfactory sign stimulous for prey selection in polecats.
Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychol  1973; 33:270-273
 
Apfelbach, R, Wester U:  The quantitative effect of visual and tactile
stimuli on the prey-catching behavior of ferrets Putorius furo L).
Behavior Processes 1977; 2:187-200
 
Poole TB: Some behavioral differences between the European polecat.
Mustela putorius, the ferret, Mustela furo, and their hybrids. J Zool
1972; 166:25-35
 
Zeuner FE:  A History of Domesticated Animals.  NY, Harper & Row, 1963,
pp 401-403
 
They list _The Velvet Claw_ but I don't recall it having domestication
info.  I'll have to look if I get time.  Of course, there are more refs
given, but for those want to start searching (a call out to folks near
university libraries who wonder how they can help ferrets since younger
college students often ask that question) .
[Posted in FML issue 4497]