Hi there! Not only does Dayton like to steal potatoes, but also everyother vegtable we buy. She sometimes eats tomatoes, but the rest she just hides in my closet, under the bed, in the entryway, behind the toilet and other fun places. When she was visiting my mom and dad (my mom likes animals from far away) she took about 25 potatoes out of a basket in the kitchen and 'threw' them down to the basement. I have proof ferrets would kill a cow and I know what part of them they would eat first. The stomach!!! I work at a dairy nutrition lab and this summer am working on an experiment where we take rumen and omasal (two compartments of the stomach) samples. This stuff is gross and smelly and gets on all my clothes. Whenever I'd come home they'd burrow through my stinky clothes and drag them around. Ususally they are not clothes ferrets. So my advise is to keep your cows hidden. My condolences to the lost ferrets owners, but here is (perhaps) some encouragement. Last spring, over finals week, my dayton escaped through my roomates closet. We live on the third floor. We talked to neighbors, called the HS, looked and looked and looked. After 5 days I had given up. The morning of the sixth day and 3 hours before my last final my neighbor told me my ferret was on the roof. A passerby had seen her. We called everyone we could think of but no one could help us get her down. We finally went through the attic and maybe hurt a few attic screens but got her. She was scared and hungry and thirsty and full of insulation but otherwise fine. So don't give up. Nikki [Posted in FML issue 1260]