There are other things which have documented impacts on ferret/polecat
populations but this may be of interest, too, as a added pressure to
challenged populations:

http://www.mediadesk.uzh.ch/articles/2011/paarungsverhalten_en.html

>Using a mathematical model, an international team of researchers led
>by Daniel Rankin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of
>Zurich, has now demonstrated that aggressive male sexual behavior not
>only harms the female, but can also cause entire populations to die
>out. The paper recently published in the journal The American
>Naturalist...

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 7065]