>From: dma <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Are ferrets dangerous to babies? The poop part is a bad joke. The biggest problem I've heard of is where a toddler gets a hold of a ferret and treats it as a stuffed animal, picking it up by a leg, head or whatever and shaking it. If the ferret thinks it's a real assault, which is quite possible, he'll "fight back"...and the kid'll need stitches, maybe a lot of 'em. There was supposedly a death on Oregon about 10 years back, not long after the National Enquirer published an article titled "The Jet-Set Pet That Eats Kids". In that case of a supposed "ferret killed kid", there was also a lot of "Blunt Trauma"...I talked to William Phillips about that case; he suspects the parents did the kid in and framed the ferret to avoid jail, and that they got the idea from the Enquirer. Bottom line is, there *may* be a problem with very young babies, there is a strong possibility of trouble with toddlers...as with any other animal, young kids and ferrets need to be supervised closely whenever they're together. In my opinion, if you suspect a kid is old/mature enough to deal with a ferret without fear of mishap, borrow someone's tame friendly *rat* and see how the kid holds and handles it. See, a rat will panic quickly if it's uncomfortable, yet will be more inclined to "flee rather than fight", so it's a safe way of seeing how well the kid deals with small animals. I remember the time a five-year-old picked up Felix at a park, and I was nervous until I saw how well the kid was doing - turned out he had a rat at home. [Posted in FML issue 1636]