I was heartbroken to read the story about the ferret killed by an ignorant jogger. I can't believe the ignorance of someone who takes tameness as a sign of rabies, and I can only hope that as more people learn about ferrets, this kind of thing will be less frequent. My heart goes out to the poor fuzzy's owners as well; I'm sure you're crushed. The sad thing about this is that collars aren't even a sure protection against this kind of mistake, because they can slip them so easily. Something funny (and a bit disturbing) Scooter did last night: I was sorting my laundry, and had a huge pile of clean socks in front of me. Scooter, the sock thief he is, ran up and stole one. I didn't feel like hunting all over the apartment for my socks, so I grabbed the sock. He wouldn't let go. I picked him up and asked him nicely to let go. No dice. I told him firmly to let go. Nothing. I went to tap him on the nose gently (this sometimes reminds him) and he shook his head violently at me, making me think he might bite if I pushed him. Then he started hissing at me. Eventually, I got the sock back, and Scooter got a long lecture about talking to his father that way, but I was surprised. I had no idea they take the hoarding instinct that seriously! Chris and Scooter the Defender of the Socks [Posted in FML issue 0848]