Chris...I tryed sending this to you several times and have never seen reference in you newsletters about it...so I am trying to send again here goes....Laurie [This time you got thru - remember that path!] Below is an article that was pointed out to me by a relative that I thought might be of interest to all, and that troubled me some. I would love to hear from others that confirm that this is a crock. It is a small piece that was in the Mother&Child section of the October 1988 Good Houskeeping Magazine. Here Goes (Just as it is written): FERRET ALERT! Each year some 50,000 people purchase ferrets to keep as pets, even though they are wild animals. But the weasel-like creatures can be vicious, especially around children. Doctors have seen cases where babies have been so sevrely bitten as to require reconstructive surgery. So be a wise parent - DON'T KEEP FERRETS AS PETS. Well guys..any truth in this?? I have to admit it scared me a bit, but then the same can be said about having Dogs or Cats. But I do have children (not Babies), and it did put a scare in me. Our ferret (Patti) is very docile, even the vet remarked how calm she is compared to others. Can they change?? I'd love to hear remarks from others out there.... Laurie [log in to unmask] [As written in issues 39 thru 42, basically this is total nonsense. Or, at least, gross misrepresentation and scare mongering. We go by the following rule: Any article that states that ferrets are wild animals isn't worth the paper it's written on. *Except* where it promotes further misunderstanding and should be *authoritively* attacked at source. Which is why we've been posting out the letters on ferrets that we've seen or written ourselves. As with *all* pets, they should be supervised when around small children or babies. Anything else is negligence. Even with a dog or cat you run a risk - usually vanishingly small, but there just the same. Issue 39 had a very interesting, reasonably researched, letter on actual incidents of attack that shows that the incidence of ferret attacks on humans is several orders of magnitude *less* than dogs on a per-capita (per-dogita? -canita? ;-) basis. Children should be taught on how to behave around ferrets, just as they should be around cats or dogs. Eg: don't tease them or grab them. Handle them *gently*. They should be kept away from babies that are in the "grabby" phase - even a dog will sometimes retaliate if grabbed - and we all know how good some babies' grips are. Can they change? Well, our ferrets are getting *more* docile, not less, as they get older. And, surprise, ferrets don't even get particularly nasty towards humans when they're in heat (though unfixed males do get more aggressive towards other ferrets). Not like some cats we know... Pat (my wife) is pregnant and we have two ferrets. We've read all of the uninformed anti-ferret hysteria. We've also read unbiased factual information. We're not worried. We *are* going to be careful. Just as if we had a cat, dog or guinea pig. Watch out for 'dem guinea pigs! ;-)] [Posted in FML 0043]