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Post by unclejoe on May 31, 2015 16:21:15 GMT -5
He was wild, folks. I believe he said in a different thread the ferret vet only comes to the island once a year.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2015 16:28:45 GMT -5
Sir, you've just let me speachless .....I totally agree that wild animals are ment to be wild ...but after they are treated and ready to have their 2nd chance in the nature, not like this ...in my opinion this is almost the same thing as a death sentance
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Post by Sherry on May 31, 2015 16:59:49 GMT -5
He has been handled before from those pics. Meaning either someone else also dumped him or he was an escape from a rabbiter. He is in no way "wild", or he'd not be able to handle him. THIS is a wild one:
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2015 17:06:37 GMT -5
Some interesting points there. I have to remind you that the ferrets here are wild. Of course, there are escapees, but George was wild, his parents would probably have been wild and so on. As you say Heather, nature is cruel. All we've done is put him back to his fate. He came from the middle of no where and has at least been taken to a place where there is plenty of prey and few humans. Ferrets are at the top of the food chain here - they have no predators. There aren't even feral cats here. No foxes, badgers or anything like that. Stray cats and dogs are caught by the local Council, if they remain unclaimed, they are put down after 3 weeks I believe. Ferrets are seen as vermin. We go every year to our local agriculture show. The comments we get from some farmers and others are terrible. Sherry, please understand, I didn't take in a ferret. I trapped and took home a wild animal, cleaned him up, fed him and returned him to the wild. Vets here no longer treat wild animals for free. I know from experience that, being it a ferret, the vet would sooner offer to put the animal down than treat it. I'm sorry that some of you are not happy with what we've done. Wild animals belong in the wild. I don't go to zoo's because I believe big cats and bears for example shouldn't be kept in captivity. If I catch a ferret that I believe I can do something with, I'll do what I can. It wouldn't have been good for George to cage him. Please, keep commenting. I may not be able to convince you that I believe that what we did was right, but we can talk about it.
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Post by Sherry on May 31, 2015 17:12:59 GMT -5
Dare you to try picking up the one in the vid I linked. THAT was a wild one
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2015 17:17:41 GMT -5
That's an interesting film Sherry, but it's a European Polecat. British ferrets are smaller and less aggressive. Shetland has a population of 23,000 and ferrets are seen as vermin. I can't tell you how many ferret owners there are here, but in summer I count about 50 dead on the road every year. Their population here is huge. I know several farmers with chickens and turkeys. They trap quite a few every year and how they put them down is terrible. Because ferrets are seen as vermin the SPCA are powerless to do anything about it.
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Post by Heather on May 31, 2015 17:19:31 GMT -5
I"m sorry....I've got a friend who is cert for rehabing polecats. You cannot handle a wild ferret/polecat. They are wild. You washed and cared for this boy. You handled him with your bare hands. I've worked with semi-feral ferrets and you can't handle them with your hands. You cannot convince me you did right by this boy. He wasn't a wild ferret, not in the true term of it. He's someone's dumped pet, some hunter's lost or dumped hob. He's not wild. Just because you trapped him doesn't make him wild. It makes him only lost. It's true it's as nature intended but if a wild animal is injured I will take it to a rehab facility or the vet (yes I will pay the bill) to euthanize if that's the case. Some animals over here you are not allowed to rehab, that doesn't stop us from doing so. I will not be responsible for the death of an animal just because it's "nature". ciao
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2015 17:19:51 GMT -5
When I took George out of his trap he was hissing and biting. I have good thick leather gloves though. The clicking noise that one made was interesting.
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Post by unclejoe on May 31, 2015 17:55:32 GMT -5
I just graduated college. For the past 4 years we've lived on pasta, hot dogs, baloney sandwiches, ramen noodles, and other crap. I hadn't bought a steak in 4 years until just recently, and it was on sale about to expire. But when my pets need a vet, they go. The last des implant Jaffa got cost 2/3 of a week's pay. I've taken injured turtles 45 minutes one way to the marine science center rehab, and came darn close to putting an injured American egret in my car to take there before someone from there showed up because someone else had already called. They have a 6 ft wingspan, 12 inch bill, and 2 foot neck. And they're not happy being handled. It took 2 experienced people to get it into the back of a pickup truck with a cap. It probably would have killed me.
within 5 months after I got my first ferrets, I took in 3 more pairs of rescues because even with little money I knew I could care for them better than their previous owners. We already had 3 cats and a huge dog. It was around that time I realized that I couldn't save em all and stopped going on craigslist.
Please don't think I'm not an animal lover. I'm just a realist.
Death is a part of life. And George isn't dead yet.
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Post by FireAngel on May 31, 2015 19:46:51 GMT -5
I am a bit torn on this, but I realize I do not live in Shetland and do not know how the wild ferrets there act. I am willing to believe that they are much tamer than a polecat and I am willing to believe that you believe you did the right thing for him. I can certainly see why others have taken such a staunch stance to the opposite though, if you were able to handle him enough to bath him it gives (from afar) a sense of hope in completely taming him. I like unclejoe am a realist at heart too and while I love and want all of the defenseless creatures to be happy healthy and safe I know I can't save them all, I believe you are much the same. It never makes it any easier though.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2015 20:04:36 GMT -5
Geez people---give the guy a break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nobody will want to come on this forum if you aren't a little nicer.
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Post by unclejoe on May 31, 2015 20:48:22 GMT -5
Yeah. I'm kinda torn, too. I understand that everyone on this forum are animal lovers. And a special brand of crazy. I'm also a bit jealous. I'd love to be able to take in wild ferrets and make pets out of them, instead of getting them from a bloody mill, (which none of us like to even think about), but we all have limits.
Dar24 and I have become quite close to a couple of our pond turtles and will miss them greatly when we move, but it wouldn't be right to take them from the pond where they grew up, even if we moved somewhere that had a pond. If they were ferrets, tho...
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Post by Sherry on Jun 4, 2015 23:20:55 GMT -5
The issue here is releasing what was obviously NOT a wild animal, who was sick, back into the wild instead of taking him to a readily available vet or shelter. And yes- after fact checking vets AND shelters were and are available. So absolutely no reason to throw this ferret away What was done was turn an animal out who is ultimately going to die a slow painful death rather than have him euthed by one of the many rescues. So if anyone thinks I was "too hard" on a person who will readily discard an animal rather than turn him over to those who may save him- I am sorry but "oh well!"
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 7:39:17 GMT -5
I just wanna say i think personally you should have built him a home, or even just a big run in the yard. You could then give him live pray and keep him safe yet not have to fully deal with him ( in a mannor of handling and such) I think this could have been handled better.
My self i couldnt not put an animal back if I had been holding it and such. I would feel bonded and like I needed to help them.
I suppose you did what you felt was best but I really think you could have come up with a better answer then to release him again. I get the feeling he wont last more then a year or so, being wild, and possibly having mange you sorta set him up for failure by releasing him when you could have really given him a better life, or an easy pain free death.
If anything you should have got him snipped so they dont keep populating in the wild. That would have been a responsible thing to do as it sounds like wild ferrets seem to be a problem there.
Also i dont think anyone here as been unreasonably hard. Its important to make things clear that "NO THATS BAD" like you would with a ferret ( some people think scruffing is to much yah know?) I think yelling at said posted was a correct and just move by the other members here ( Sorry poster! But now you know there are better options and the one you pick was really horrible...)
Myself personally If i was yelled at by people on here i would take it as a learning experience. As everyone on here seems to know/have experience with ferrets and to me its very important to learn how to take care of my babies the best i can.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2015 7:44:45 GMT -5
He has been handled before from those pics. Meaning either someone else also dumped him or he was an escape from a rabbiter. He is in no way "wild", or he'd not be able to handle him. THIS is a wild one: Hey we actually have a pole cat killing things in our area, do you have any good links on how to keep it out of our yard or anything? (i havnt seen a single squirrel this year and i live a bit in the woods and normally they are everywhere... im getting worried about the other small creatures in my area like the neighbors cats and small dogs...)
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