Q: "Do you know when the first ferrets came to the USA?" A: Sometime after the invention of raisins but before the retardation of the CaCaLand Fishing Gestapo and Lobotomy Society. Do you mean the first physical appearance of the ferret, OR do you mean the first permanent presence of the ferret? Consider this question like humans on the moon. Sure, a few have been there, but so what? The only real significance is the 'historical first;" until humans have established a permanent presence on the moon, regardless if we have been there, WE ARE NOT THERE. The same is true about the introduction of animals. Certainly, ferrets were brought over as early as the first settlers, but never in numbers enough to warrant classification as a "permanent presence." They were used for ratting primarily, but were also kept aboard ships and around some buildings as mousers and ratters as well (I define ratting as the periodic activity of using ferrets to chase mice and rats from their hiding places so they can be killed by dogs or humans. Mousers or ratters are individual ferrets permanently employed to control rodent populations by catching and eating them). Prior to the U.S. Civil War (early 1860s), the presence of ferrets in the Americas was minor and I do not consider their presence to have much economic significance. This changed after the Civil War when the first ferret farms were established. It is impossible to exactly confirm when the first farms were opened, but it must have been prior to the publication of the first books on ferrets, placing it in the early to mid-1870s. You can make a reasonable guess on this date based on the numbers of ferrets reported sold on a yearly basis, the numbers of ferrets required to produce such offspring, and the time needed to establish such breeding operations. In other words, it is doubtful if ANY breeder imported large enough numbers of ferrets to establish the breeding colonies reported in the late 1880s; it is far more likely that it took 5 to 10 years for the early farms to build up enough stock as well as to establish a market. At this time, ferrets make a permanent presence, have a significant economic impact, and have remained in captivity in some capacity in the USA since then. The reasons for this shift in attitude is apparent; ferrets were never very useful for hunting because rabbits in the Americas do not form the same sort of bury as do European rabbits, thus you get little return for a lot of work. It is easier to just flush rabbits with dogs and shoot them on the run. So there was no attraction for the ferret as a hunting animal in the Americas, and since ferrets are harder to breed than cats, they never sold well to farmers. So why the sudden appreciation of the ferret? The answer lies in three areas; the increase in post-Civil War slums as ex-slaves and immigrants poured into the northern USA (a result of the industrial revolution), in the storage and distribution of farming products, and in the recognition of rat borne disease. Early American ferret literature (indeed; nearly ALL early ferret literature) places an emphasis on the ratting abilities of ferrets over all other qualities. Even the US government produced several Farmer's Bulletins touting the ratting qualities of ferrets. Rats were on the increase because of the change to centralized storage of farming products as well as the increase in northern inner city slums. Government sponsored large-scale campaigns to eliminate rats took place to promote public health as well as reduce economic losses, and ferrets became quite popular during the 1880-1920s (as reflected in the mention of ferrets in the popular literature of the time). This changed in the late 1920s-early 1930s as ferrets were outlawed in a number of states in an effort to prevent them from being used to hunt game. Coincidentally, this was also when the first cheap rat poisons were being introduced. Now, since ferrets never caught on well in the Americas for hunting because the returns were overshadowed by the work, it is unlikely that ferrets were ACTUALLY outlawed because of their hunting ability since their economic impact was always very small. Since ferreting was probably cheaper than poisons (and safer), it is more likely the ferrets were outlawed to stimulate the switch to rat poisons; hunting was just the excuse to justify the law. Perhaps the time ferrets were the most popular (maybe even more popular than now) was in the decade just after World War 1. This is when most of the early books about ferrets were published and when the large New York and Ohio ferret farms were established. One possible reason is because of increased public awareness of communicable diseases; a result of the great influenza epidemics of the time. Ferrets were seen as a way to control rats, considered at that time to be horrific disease carriers. This idea is supported by the early ferret advertisements of the era. So the bottom line is that even though ferrets were occasionally found in the USA prior to the Civil War, they were never in great enough numbers to justify regarding them as having any sort of economic impact. They were physically present, but I would not consider them to have a permanent presence until shortly after the Civil War. Between the late 1870s and 1900, ferrets became quite popular as ratters and for ratting, which lasted until the introduction of rat poisons in the years prior to World War Two. They have never been very popular in the USA as hunters (ferreting). I am currently researching the hypothesis that rat poisons were being introduced at the same time as ferrets were being outlawed and if anyone has access or knowledge to material from this time which might be used to support or refute this idea, I would appreciate it being forwarded to me. Bob C and 16 MO' Ferret Freedom Fighters [Posted in FML issue 3006]