I was thinking over this past spring break about why our local ferrets seem to have much higher cancer rates than most of the world. In previous issues, suggestions were made that it's due to bad breeding, early spay/neutering, or an improper diet. Well, as I was staying up very, very late working on a take-home math test, it hit me that nobody had ever suggested improper exposure to light as a possible source. Ferrets have definite seasonal trends, shedding into winter and summer coats twice yearly, and like most animals they exhibit a definite circadian rythm as well. Here in the US, most ferrets seem to be kept as housepets, living indoors under controlled light conditions, whereas from what I've heard most European ferrets live in outdoor pens under natural lighting conditions, with the attendant seasonal variations and normal day/night cycle. The hormonal imbalances our unintentional meddling with their natural periodicity might give rise to strikes me as at least as likely a cancer source as a diet lacking in raw, whole rabbits. :-) E.S., Hershey and Nestle' (NY) [Posted in FML issue 0769]