Man o man. I'd hate to live at places where there are all those deadly threats to ferrets. I had no idea that circumstances could be so dastardly to my ferrets when they are staked out in my side yard, and unsupervised at that. Ten lashes for you, dummy Edward, tsk, tsk. From time to time a few observations of the digging grounds from my deck, which is some 20 feet above and north of the digging grounds, I have watched two animal types, other than my pet crows, Forty, and his mate (no name) interact with the ferrets on the ground. These two animals are racoons and cats. The typography here is a gentle downward sloping lot facing west. There is one house below me and below them is a little, itty bittie wetland and a small pond. The pond and the wetland are natural attractants to the racoons and they regularly meander down the hill from the woods up above us, usually after sunset. Now here's the interesting part and I could hardly believe it the first time I saw how the 'coons interacted with the grounded ferrets. Of course you may have not realized it but the vast majority of my ferrets are neither neutered nor spayed. They're pretty tough customers and dominate the little fixed ferrets savagely. For that reason when they are staked out, the stakes are located such that no two ferrets can overlap each others ground plane - the circular area the diameter of which is fixed by the length of the leash line twixt the ferret and the steel rod in the ground. I had some concern for the ferrets the first time I was privy to the coons meeting the ferrets, but felt somewhat in control of the developing situation by having in hand my Benjamin 0.177 caliber pump air rifle. I am a deadly shot and can knock out the eye of a squirrel at 50 feet, no trouble at all. So I was prepared for whatever was about to happen between the the coon and the ferret. My plan of action was to sting the coon in the butt with a low velocity 0.177 lead slug in the event the coon gave the ferret bad news. Boy, was I surprised at the action of the coon ambling down the hill straight toward the ferret populated digging grounds; that is until the coon scented the collected mustelids, most of whom were snoozing and apparently unaware of the coon's approach. The coon's nose pointed skyward at the same time he stopped dead in his tracks some 7 feet uphill of the resting ferrets. Very, very deliberately the coon rose to his full height and used his nose like a radar probe, all the while rocking on his hind legs and, at the same time bobbing up and down as if he was trying to get a visual of the strange situation just ahead of and below him. I, being totally ignorant of what was to ensue, put the front sight blade of my rifle right on the coon's butt and curled my index finger around the trigger, anticipating that I was going to shoot the coon. And that's when the most strangest thing happened, much to my relief. The coon dropped down on all fours and made a 90 degree left turn (it could've been maybe 91 degrees, I'm not sure) and ambled unconcernedly the full width of the ferret digging grounds. before turning to his original downhill track and thereby flanked the collected ferrets well out of range of the peripheral ferrets. The coon continued downhill and out of sight, never coming closer than 5 feet (well, maybe 5 feet 3 and 1/2 inches, I'm not sure) to the closest ferret. The ferrets, which I thought were dozing or asleep at their posts or partially in their holes, became really alive, sniffing the air and actually pranced around somewhat jittery and straining at their leash lines. They were aware that they had an encounter of the strangest kind. The coon had left his telltale scent in the air trailing behind him. I don't think the ferrets actually eyeballed the coon, but became totally aroused as a consequence of their superb olfactory sense and possibly too in that they never ever smelled a coon before. And believe me, coons are smelly. You'd know that if you'd ever been on a coon hunt on a cold, dewy night. Now the neighbor's cat...well that's a different story altogether and maybe some day I'll tell you about that unfortunate episode. Suffice it to say here, for the time being, that that cat is the only cat with two holes in its butt, its natural pooper hole and the other hole, one 0.177 inch in diameter. Omigod! Will I ever live this down - a butt shooter of cats. Edward, you should not have let this out of the bag, cause its gonna get you in hot water with all the pussy fanciers out there. And for dear Kim, I do hope you enjoyed my ranting and will not take umbrage at my lucidity and truthfulness. Yo! Great White Hunter doth speaketh and concludeth with these words (finally!): I know you believe you understood what you think I said; however I'm not sure you realize that what I think you read is not what I meant. Edward Lipinski, Ferrets North West Foundation. [Posted in FML 6082]