It has long been a belief amongst some misguided ferret keepers that mating a jill to a European Polecat will produce an excellent working ferret with plenty of 'fire'. I recently read an article published in a country sports paper - the author had taken in a injured European Polecat hob. The hob was mated with one of his calmest jills who was also an excellent worker. (The hob has now been released into a conservation area as it has recovered from its' injuries.) The resulting litter was a great disappointment. The author passed on kits to his friends and kept one himself. The polecat/ferret was kept with another litter of ferret kits but has turned out to lack 'fire' is nervous of new objects introduced to the run. The ferrets charge in and examine what 'dad' has put in the run the polecat/ferret hides in a corner - natural behaviour for a wild predator - leave it alone until it finds out whether or not the new thing can cause it harm. An injured predator will not be able to hunt and will therefore starve, so it is perfectly natural behaviour. The author threw a freshly killed hen into the run, the ferret kits charged in and set to with relish, one of the hen's legs kicked out in spasm and knocked one of the kits flying across the run, without more ado the kit picked itself up and charged back into the melee. Where was the polecat/ferret - yup, hiding behind a box in a corner and just peeping out watching until most of the action calmed down. When the kit judged it safe it joined in. So much for the old ferreter's tales of brave polecat/ferret crosses. The ferret would not make a very good predator in the 'wild' - why? The only answer would be because it is fearless and would approach any new animal, object and probably end up as a meal for a larger predator that it took on. Nevermind curiosity killed the cat - it's get the ferret killed as well. Sheila [log in to unmask] http://www.btinternet.com/~sheila/ferrets.htm Bolton Ferret Welfare & Newsletter Editor of the National Ferret Welfare Society of the UK The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily those of the NFWS [Posted in FML issue 2082]