Hi guys- In the Oct 2001 issue of Outside Magazine is an excerpt from author Peter Stark's new book entitled "Last Breath: Cautionary Tales from the Limits of Human Endurance". A portion of this excerpt talks about predatory animals and in one paragraph is states and I quote "that the ferocious grizzly bear ranks about the same a mustelids (weasels, badgers, skunks and the like) , which kill an average of four humans a year, primarily pet ferrets attacking unattended babies"." For anyone interested in contacting the magazine and speaking up on this issue, here's the magazine's mailing address: Outside Magazine 400 Market Street Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 Or they receive e-mails at: [log in to unmask] I'm going to do both. The book the information is excerpted from is written by one of the magazine's journalists, Peter Stark, so it's safe to assume he'll hear about it if we contact the magazine as ferret lovers and insist they either provide the source of this information or retract the statement (if these deaths occurred outside the US, they needed to qualify that). No pressure, you don't have to agree with me on this, but since ferrets still have a tenuous grasp on being treated fairly in terms of quarantine on bite issues (and since the California Dept. of Fish and Game will jump at any documented source to prove that ferrets are "wild" animals who attack people) I think it's important for ferret advocates to politely and courteously let this magazine know that their information is not correct (unless they can cite the documented source that we can check and verify). There may be some reported cases of a ferret biting a baby or small child (more the fault of clueless parents than of the ferret) but I was unable to find any documented case of a child's death resulting from a ferret attack, and I don't think they exist. I was unable to find the article in the online archives, otherwise would have posted the link to the story right here. Thanks all, -Heather W. Ignored by Dante, clung to by Nikita, gazed at by Dusty, chased by Beanie, jumped on by Boomer, and snapped at by Rocky! [Posted in FML issue 3660]