To Bruce Williams re: Bovine T.B. and Ferret Farms. Thank you for the comments on the problems of Bovine T.B. As far as ferret (fitch) farms in New Zealand are concerned they are now a thing of the past. This was one of our many boom and bust industries and when fur went out of fashion in the mid to late 1980's the farms went out of business. At the time there were unsubstantiated rumours of some of the ferrets being released to fend for themselves instead of being "disposed of". Initially the farms were stocked locally but some ferrets were imported from Scotland and Finland. Someone asked a question about the identity of the New Zealand feral ferrets. The name of the critters is Mustela furo If you have access to a substantial library you can look for: *Handbook of New Zealand Mammals* edited by Carolyn M King, and published by Oxford University Press in 1990 ISBN 0 19 558177 6. If anyone wants a copy of the ferret chapter I can photocopy and snail mail it. Lawrence Roberts [Posted in FML issue 1069]