I don't know if anyone has clarified this or not, but in the UK rabbits are pretty much pests - at least compared to in the US. Rabbits have lost a lot of their natural predators in the UK. I am sure this has to do with long term deforestation as the land changed from woods to open fields due to the agriculture needs of the population. Because of this imbalance, rabbits tend to increase in population to the point that they actually damage the land by "over grazing" plant life which creates huge patches of land with no growth. Many of these areas without plant life can be subject to erosion and other long term soil damage. Rabbits in the UK also create shallow warrens that are hazards to livestock and farm equipment because they can collapse. Animals and farm equipment can be injured or damaged by the numerous entry/exit holes to warrens. Rabbits in very large populations also can develop myxomatosis, nature's way of controlling the population. Not a pretty disease, as the rabbits suffer from it for a time before dying and it is highly contagious within a population of rabbits. I know rabbits in New Zealand and Australia were introduced to those countries and have become established to pest proportions. Hunting rabbits with ferrets is a way to keep the population under control in the UK in a safe way that does not involve poisons or the total decimation of a warren. Hunting is what the domestic ferret was developed for in the first place - and those early ferrets probably fed themselves and their owners pretty well. Here in the US, besides vermin control, we really don't have too many things for "working ferrets" to do. We simply don't have the type of rabbit population that becomes a nuisance, and not too many of us have farms where our ferrets go to work in a pile of hay bales clearing out rodents. After reading Bob C's post on cockroaches, I'm sure some of our ferrets get to do some indoor "vermin control" though :) I don't think any less of my ferrets because most of their hunting involves chasing down a wiffle ball, and killing it <g>, but I certainly admire the folks in other countries who use their ferrets for hunting and also value them as companions. A great reference enjoy about hunting ferrets in the UK is a book called "Working Ferrets" by Jackie Drakeford. It is published by Swan Press in the UK and could proably be ordered here. I like the book because she presents the ferret as a companion - as well as instructs how to develop them as working partners. The photos of ferrets having a great time in all aspects of hunting (even being dug out!) are priceless. There are also numerous resources on the Web for hunting ferrets. Lots of interesting things to read. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I'm not saying that everyone who is violently opposed to hunting with ferrets is WRONG, but perhaps they should know a little bit more about the topic (and not forget the origins of our precious fuzzbutts!) before developing an opinion. Ann And the 7 wiffle-ball hunting ferret-heads! [Posted in FML issue 2246]