I was just as disgusted when I saw that scene it the theatres, and promptly came home and gave my fuzzies extra kisses but I do want to point out I do not recall this actually being in the book that BuckBeak was fed ferrets I will try and double check but to my memory the only ferret refrence was one where Hermione turned Malfoy into a white one and then promply turned him back. I think the scene in the movie was one of those scene that has caused uproar from the fans of the books and is the reason this director who only directed this HP movie will not be returning for the fourth movie! [A later P.S.]: I am sorry to double post but I did want make the correction to my last post it was not hermione that turns malfoy into a ferret but Professor Moody, also I did find the following quote on J.K Rowling's offcial webpage www.jkrowling.com- "Ron was the only one of three major characters whose surname never changed; he has been ' weasley' from start to finish In Britain and Ireland the weasel has a bad reputation as an unfortunate even malevolent, animal. However since childhood I have had a grat fondness for the family mustelidae; not so much malignant as magligned in my opinion." - J.K Rowling, about the weasley family [Posted in FML issue 4715]