Ferrets Get a Raw Deal

[Pembshunter 23]

I was just reading a book the other day..."The Wild Gourmet" If I ever happen to meet the wild gourmet, After smacking him one, I will tell him that his theory on ferrets is wrong, I quote from his absolutely rubbish nonsense book:

 

"Ferrets have a well deserved reputation of being vicious and smelly"

 

What utter nonsense is this City Boy, Hugh Fearnley Wannabe, Gap Year Publishing deal, Lets go to the countryside and eat animals and become overnight experts, talking about, People like this make me sick - Wild Gourmet has obviously never been properly acquainted with the friendly & brave little heroes that we are proud to be owners of, The pleasure, joy and bagfuls of rabbits they work so hard to give us throughout the year coupled with the absolute pleasure of watching how fantasticly well they raise there litters and go about there day to day lives....

 

I believe that ferrets get a raw deal, they have an undeserved bad reputation, Not helped by city boys writing bull shit books, they change hands for little money, which seems to allow people to do what they like with them, treat them bad and leave them behind if they lay up, or as in some cases, Hit them over the head at the end of the season...pull there teeth out, sew their lips or put a so called cope on their mouths....And feed them slops...These things do go still go on, And why? There only a few quid, or free....So that makes it ok.

 

There is not one other animal, domesticated, on this planet that can do what a ferret does, there clean, super intelligent, loving, playful & friendly...They are one of the most rewarding animals you could ever keep in your life...Yet there treated by some like absolute trash & it breaks my heart.

 

I sometimes wish there was a ferret tax, £200 an animal, Then I think only people who deserved them, would have them & it would put off the people who should never have them and who have only contributed to there bad press....

 

Even pet shop owners have argued black and white with me that my ferrets couldnt possbly be like the onesin his shop, because mine are used for working....

 

My nephews who are 5 & 6 take my ferrets to the conservatory every sunday and play with them for hours, lifting them, chasing them and dragging them round on big blue rope that the ferrets bite into and I never even think twice about them getting bitten.

 

So give it up for the ferrets, the little guys who throw on a collar and run down that rabbit hole on a saturday morning, fearless and brave...never giving up against a rabbit that sometimes kicks the shit out of it, never backing down once against a rabbit sometimes a lot bigger and heavier than she is, never letting that rabbit stopped up in the corner get the better of her as her master digs down through the ground with a spade and as she looks up with that little cheeky look on her face and yet again, does what she does best...provides food, sport, fun & enjoyment and all they ask in return is care and food.....Give it up for the ferrets.

[Fat-Ferret 857]

[SwissTony 0]

My big hob is about as laid back as you can get.

I can hold him up to my face, nose to nose and he just licks it.

My jill is pretty much the same, never bites, just scrabbles around when you are holding her.

As for the smell, the hob as you all know with yours, hums a bit at this time of year. The jill is no worse than a dogs smell.

 

The people in the city wreck the way country folk live their lives. They have no clue how farmers slave every day just to keep pests from their fields, just so Mr big shot can have his organic carrots for dinner.

[Simoman 110]

I've always enjoyed keeping ferrets and opening the eyes of "anti ferret" types.........

[The one 8,592]

That's the thing about ferrets there still given away free or a couple of pounds if they cost some decent money maybe they would get the respect they deserve

[Malt 379]

Good post.

 

I sometimes think the bad reputation of ferrets goes back to the days when they were kept in a tiny hutch at the end of the garden, fed slops and were only handled when they were to be used for rabbiting.

 

When I bred kits last year, my cousin was supposed to be having some kits of me. My uncle had kept ferrets, years before he met my auntie, and was up for it.

 

My auntie put her foot down, because her father had apparently, 'Nearly had his finger bitten off by one' years ago.

 

Now, I've had a full on bite off a ferret, trying to take a rabbit from one just after it'd been caught, and although it hurt like hell, it was no where near powerfull enough to 'bite my finger off!'

 

A ferrets bite is not even as powerful as a cats bite, let alone anywhere near a dog, but people don't go about warning of the dangers of being bit by these animals.

 

It's all born out of myth & ignorance IMO.