On Thu, 12 Nov 1998 19:55:51 EST Anonymous Poster [log in to unmask] wrote >The several notes this week, especially the one from Great Britain, on >keeping ferrets outdoors beg the question, WHY? >Why have a ferret, or ferrets as is usually the case, as pets if you keep >them outside all the time? UK ferrets are primarily kept for hunting rabbits and are pets second. A working ferret is analogous to a working dog, it is kept to perform a necessary job and not just because it is cute. It has no 'right' to be housed in the human quarters any more than I would let my dogs sleep in my bedroom. Not many people in the UK keep chickens or pigs in their house either (they too are kept for a reason not just as pets). Don't assume that all ferrets are kept for the same reasons you keep them. >Ferrets thrive on interaction with humans. Maybe, but they thrive on ferret company too hence the reason more than one is kept. [Posted in FML issue 2493]