I am pretty sure that danger to the wildlife was not the only reason NZ banned ownership of ferrets in NZ. When it was found that a breeder from the North Island had imported ferret diseases into the country the ruling was made that people who owned ferrets could keep them until they passed on but the breeding of ferrets within NZ was banned from then on. The presence of the disease, can't remember whether it was ECE or Aleutians, was only brought to light when people from other countries found they had inadvertently bought contaminated babies from NZ into their own communities. NZ had quite a large breeding community in the South Island up until that time as well and were muddling over what laws to bring in to deal with the release/abandonment of unwanted pets into the forests, but this just tipped the decision over the edge. The sad thing was that, at the time, the North Island had only just set up their own Ferret Club and we were all looking forward to interacting with them. Dianne. [Posted in FML 7474]