This article, in the Globe & Mail Science section, talks about how scientists have to teach the black-footed ferrets they've bred to "be wild".
Apparently, back in 1991, they just released the black-footed ferrets straight from their cages, where they were bred, onto the prairies and ... guess what ... nearly all of them died, having been taken by coyotes and badgers. Those little fellahs had no idea how to escape their predators.
So now they've worked out that they need to TEACH black-footed ferrets how to survive in the wild, so they are taking them to boot camp to learn the things which their mother should have taught them.
Hmmm, let me think!
The Californian authorities state that if ferrets are allowed as pets in that state, they *might* escape and start colonies of feral ferrets (yes I know, most ferrets in the States are sterilised at a young age but that small point has obviously been overlooked by the CDFG) which will, in turn, cause havoc on the fragile Californian ecosystem.
And here we have scientists telling us that black-footed ferrets, which are bred in captivity, have no idea how to be wild and in order to survive, they have to be taught how to be wild.
Now - does anyone think that maybe, just maybe, the light of reason will come on in the brains of those particular civil servants and they might actually realise that they have been wrong in branding the DOMESTIC ferret a danger to the state?!
I would also like to put that point to the authorities in Queensland and the Northern Territory! It's even more ridiculous that ferrets are banned there because there is NO WAY an escaped ferret will survive in the humid, tropical conditions, nor would it probably survive the snakes, poisonous cane toads and crocodiles that inhabit the area.
Young Zac is into his third week with us and so far, so good :)
Angus still isn't 100% certain if he likes Zac but at least he doesn't chase him around the house like he used to. Seamus, Kahlua and Muis are all fine with him, although Muis has this urge to chew on Zac's ear, and he's not very sure if he likes that!
Muis does it to me when she comes onto the bed - she likes to stick her nose in my ear and then gentle chew my earlobe. A kind of ferret chewing gum, maybe?!? Hahaha! And I would imagine Zac's floppy ears are far more appealing than mine so I'm not surprised she always zeros in on him when he's asleep.
The latest thing all the boys get up to is playing on the bed.
Zac gets really jealous when he sees Angus and Seamus doing their weasel wardance on our bed and so, of course, he wants to join in. I have the 3 of them bouncing around on my new mattress like idiots and Zac obviously wants to weasel wardance with them.
He can get a little too enthusiastic, which frightens Angus and Seamus, so they dive under the doona (quilt) and then poke up at him from there. Zac has had a few nips through the doona cover so now he's learned to be a little more attentive about where the boys are so that his toes don't get bitten. Just as well, because I worried about him standing on a ferret and hurting them accidentally that way!
The weather at the moment here is awful - lots of rain and storms and the gloomy skies can be quite depressing. Just as well I have my animals to keep me amused and brighten up my days!
I had a suggestion from a ferret owner that it'd be fun to have a ferret forum for the readers of my site.
After a lot of headaches trying to work out how to set a forum up, my sweet husband stepped in and fixed one up for me.
It seems to be working okay so I hope you will all join me there if you have any ferret-related things you'd like to talk about, or any questions you have.
Well it didn't take us long to feel the need to fill the void caused by Bonnie's absence.
Alexia, our eldest, got her dog through S.A.F.E. (Saving Animals From Euthanasia) and she told us to check the PetRescue website to find a dog to share our home. This we did, and we fell in love with a 7.5 month old Ridgeback X pup called Farrell who was advertised there.
Philip spoke to Farrell's carer and went to see him, then organised for Farrell to come to our house so that we could be vetted and also to see how he'd go with the ferrets.
That was a week ago yesterday. The carer, called Lisa, came with another couple and the dog - we greeted them outside and then opened the front door to allow them to come in.
Farrell crossed the threshold and promptly dropped down on his haunches and his little body started to quiver from the smells of the ferrets! It was quite incredible to see him trembling at the front door and I confess I was just a little worried that perhaps the sight of the ferrets would set him racing off to snatch one up for lunch.
We all went outside to sit on the patio. I brought Muis out and Farrell sniffed her bottom and seemed very interested but didn't show any sign of wanting to eat her. This was a positive thing :)
Then we brought Kahlua out and he sniffed her, then we trouped inside and I got Seamus out from our bedroom. He took a sniff of Farrell and ran under the couch but when I brought Angus out, he practically bit Farrell's nose as he lunged at him. Eeek! This was NOT a positive thing :(
Anyway, both Philip and I thought the puppy was gorgeous so we were told to think about him during the weekend and to ring Lisa up on Monday and say yay or nay. However, they had the right to refuse our offer if they didn't think we would be a good home for the dog. We thought this was fair enough.
Philip rang Lisa first thing on Monday and she seemed happy with us as prospective "parents" and said she'd bring the dog around on Wednesday afternoon. This she did, and we thought we wouldn't overwhelm the poor pup with a new house, plus the madness of four ferrets charging around so for the first two days, I kept them separate, apart from the occasional sniff of Muis's or Kahlua's backside.
I wanted him to get to know all the smells and feel that this was his home before allowing all the ferrets to run around.
I also decided that he should be called Zac instead of Farrell. Somehow the name seemed to suit him perfectly and we thought he'd be young enough to accept the name change.
Yesterday morning I declared it time to introduce him to the whole gang. Before doing that, we wiped some Dimethyl Phthalate Bitterant on his paws, tail and ears. This bitterant is something that vets put on dogs'/cats' stitches after operations to keep them from pulling them out - it's a bitter tasting liquid and it was the stuff I got for Angus when the girls were picking on him when he was a kit. Yukky tasting and not nice but perfectly safe.
So ... we opened our bedroom door and watched.
Muis waddled out and she seemed to be quite interested in sniffing him but that was all - she just wanted to sniff and when he put his nose down to her, she licked it. Why don't I have my camera around for those occasions! It was priceless!
Anyway, Seamus and Angus then came out and noticed him and, boy, they were both not impressed to find a strange animal in their house and proceeded to chase poor Zac around the house. I saw Angus try to bite Zac on his paw and he shook his head when he tasted the bitterant, so at least that was working!
After about 5-10 minutes of the boys chasing Zac, I put them back in the bedroom with the girls. I thought it best that the introduction went slowly so that they could get used to each other in time.
In the afternoon I let them all out again and this time the boys' interest in Zac was more how to annoy him by crawling inside the cover of his bed rather than trying to attack him. As you can see from the video below, Angus really was annoying! :-D
This morning when I let the ferrets out, the boys starting chasing Zac but I noticed it was more playful than aggressive and I was very pleased at how the whole thing was going. I knew that the ice had been broken and it wouldn't take long for them to become friends.
The bedroom door has been open the whole day - the ferrets wander around the house as they please and Zac sniffs the girls and chases Angus!
Phew! It looks like Zac's presence has been accepted by all the ferrets and I reckon they're going to be fast friends in no time :)
What a horrible night last night. Bonnie, our 13-year old German Shepherd, came into our bedroom around 1.30am and I thought she wanted to go outside to poop, so woke Philip and he went and let her out.
He came back to say she was acting oddly and her stomach was extremely tight and it was obviously troubling her. He jumped on the computer to see what it might be and the thing that came up was bloat. It said it was a very dangerous condition - where the dog's stomach suddenly turns and twists for no apparent reason - and the dog has to been taken to the vet immediately.
Thank God we have a 24-hour vet close by to where we live. Philip called them and they told him to come down right away - he had to carry Bonnie to the car as she couldn't walk properly.
Anyway, about 1/2 hour later he came back holding her collar and I realised that she wasn't coming back. Apparently the vet confirmed that she did have bloat and, being such an old dog, surgery was not an option so they had to put her down.
I haven't been able to stop crying. She was such a gentle, good-natured dog and it's going to be so hard to fill her shoes.
We got her when she was 2 years old and she fitted into the family immediately. She chased our cats up the trees outside but never chased the ferrets. She allowed them to clamber all over her (like the photo below, with Muis cuddling up to her) and even in her old age she never got stroppy with them, even putting up with the boys stealing her food from under her nose.
These days she was pretty much totally deaf, her eyes were cloudy and the poor thing was as arthritic as I am but she seemed to be happy and so to lose her so suddenly has come as a real shock.
Now we have to think about introducing a new dog to the ferrets, especially to the boys (who can be very naughty at times). I'm not sure how that will go but obviously we'll have to look for a dog with a very placid temperament and one who is good with small children and other animals. I hope it won't be a hard ask ...!
I believe Bonnie is playing at the Bridge with all our ferrets and cats and I look forward to the day when we will all meet up again.
We were wandering around a liquor store yesterday as I wanted to get a bottle of champagne to celebrate the fact that Dan and Andrew were coming to lunch at our place for the first time as parents.
Philip has always been fascinated by the huge array of different beers that are available at Dan Murphy so he was walking up and down the aisles then suddenly he rushed over to me and dragged me to a shelf.
I looked up to where he was pointing and almost squealed in delight! Goodness knows what the other customers must have thought, this silly old lady getting so excited about a bottle of beer :)
I've written about Fursty Ferret being available in the UK a couple of years ago but this is the first time I saw the beer in Western Australia.
Anyway, I just had to buy it as I wanted to keep the label and also thought Philip might enjoy trying it out before I soaked the bottle ... I hope he does enjoy it as it is an expensive bottle of beer, costing A$6.99 a bottle! Liquid gold, eh? :)
As Mojo had come over for the weekend with us, we were able to introduce her to her new cousin and it was cute to see how careful she was when she was near Gracie.
Anyway, long story short - Dan and Andrew left with Gracie, Mojo went to the beach with Philip and then we had dinner. Afterwards Mojo asked if she could see all the ferrets and I said, sure.
We came into our bedroom and she got onto our bed while I brought my awesome foursome out from the chest of drawers and put them on the bed with Mojo.
You should have heard her giggles when all four of them were sniffing around her ears and tickling her face with their kisses. I was especially pleased to see how affectionate Angus was with her.
In the past I only let her hold Muis, as Kahlua was very squirmy and the boys were a bit too rambunctious and hard for her to handle when they were younger. However nowadays they are all far more relaxed and calm so it was great that she was able to interact with all of them and get to know what fun little animals they all are.
Who knows, maybe one day Mojo will have her own ferrets ;-)
A ferret owner who know my fascination with all things mustelid sent me this link to a video clip showing Shawn Brihob, from the Columbus Zoo, being interviewed on a morning show and showing off two young marbled polecats.
You simply have to see this ... these two little mustelids are just so cute and just seeing them pronk around the studio floor is absolutely wonderful :)
Something I found quite remarkable was that he (Shawn) was happy to chat to the interviewer while the two kits were dancing around the floor - I don't think I could be that casual if I had my ferrets running around on a studio floor like that!
In fact, I would say that, quite often if I'm stressed about things, I dream about having my ferrets in rooms with open windows and doors and I'm rushing around trying to round them all up! I wake up in a total state of exhaustion and feel quite unrelaxed! Ahhhh the pleasures of being a ferret owner ;-)
However ... back to these marbled polecats ... I am seriously jealous that I won't ever see these little fellahs in the zoos here in Australia but I am really glad that they're in the USA. Apparently Columbus Zoo is one of six zoos around the States which have marbled polecats.
I hope that people seeing these two clowns prancing around will get to realise that mustelids really aren't blood-thirsty carnivores but highly intelligent and amusing little critters that bring pleasure to people.
Well, I guess we can live in hope that that will happen :)
