Bring your ferret (or dog or cat) to Dolphin Mall to see Santa

I don't know about your fuzzies, but mine love Christmas, so we will be visiting Dolphin Mall for their 5th annual "Pet Nights with Santa." On December 14th or 21st, from 7:30 pm to 9 pm, pet owners can bring their critters to the Ice Palace, located on the 2nd floor of the Ramblas area, for pictures with Santa.

Visitors can select from an array of state-of-the art digital photographs offered during the traditional photos with Santa. Dolphin Mall’s holiday partnership with Snapfish offers customers a unique and user-friendly digital photo experience. The site allows shoppers to quickly share, organize and design photo gifts including holiday cards, calendars, ornaments and photo books. Shoppers can use their photos with Santa and the Ice Throne to create photo gifts. Pet owners will receive a free bowl with the purchase of a photo package on the dates/times indicated, while supplies last. Pets must be up-to-date on their vaccinations and must either be on a leash or carried in a lightweight, portable pet carrier with harness.

I already know what Bandit will be asking for... his own supply of "Bandits Banana Flavored Treats."

A new video: The Ferret Capers

Ferrets, like small children, prefer the box their toy came in rather than the toy itself. Here are Bandit and Little Willie enjoying a box full of packing peanuts.

Xylitol (sugar substitute) Can Be Deadly to Ferrets

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a new warning about the dangers of the sugar-substitute "xylitol" for ferrets and dogs:

"Xylitol is a sugar alcohol approved for use in many common products, including sugar-free baked goods, candy, oral hygiene products, and chewing gum.


Xylitol can be found in many over-the-counter drugs such as chewable vitamins and throat lozenges and sprays. It can also be purchased in bulk bags for use in home baking. These products are intended only for human use.


The FDA reports included clinical signs such as a sudden drop in blood sugar (hypoglycemia), seizures and liver failure. If you suspect your pet has ingested xylitol, some signs to look for are depression, loss of coordination and vomiting. The signs of illness may occur within minutes to days of ingesting xylitol. Owners should consult their veterinarian or pet poison control center immediately for advice if they know or suspect that their pet has ingested a human product containing xylitol."

My furry five live by the motto "Leave No Glass Unturned" and, like all ferrets, love to get into everything. But with a Type I diabetic daughter almost everything in the house is sugar-free, so I will certainly be checking labels and being even more cautious than before.

Ferret lobby's new argument: Legalization would save California money - San Jose Mercury News

An Environmental Impact Report by the Sacramento State University showing that domesticated ferrets are not a threat to indigenous wildlife didn't work. Perhaps appealing to California State's budgetary woes will.

Ferret lobby's new argument: Legalization would save California money - San Jose Mercury News

Short on cash and support in California's Legislature and stymied by procedural requirements at the Fish and Game Commission, a coalition of ferret legalization supporters is hoping to gain traction with a new argument on the cost of the state's ban...

Estimates on the state's illegal ferret population vary significantly, but pet industry experts estimate one-quarter of ferret supplies sold in the country come from California shelves.

Legalization proponents say those numbers show the state is missing out on revenue from sales of ferrets, which cost more than $100 apiece, and startup food and supplies, often bought when the owner purchases the pet in Nevada or other neighboring states.

"There's the cage, there's the food, there's the litter pans," said West Coast Ferrets Association member Debby Greatbanks. "It's a good $500 investment."...

"I don't think there's any doubt that there would be a positive economic impact for California, for California businesses and for revenue for California," said Michael Maddox, vice president of government relations for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council.

What do you think?

Melanie Dawn Molina Wood is a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate LLC in Miami, Florida and a member of the US Green Building Council. She is a designated Eco-Broker and a long-time member of the Sierra Club. She shares her home with her daughter and five domesticated ferrets. You can visit her website at www.MelanieSellsMiami.com or follow her on Twitter @MelanieDawnMW

How To Wrap A Christmas Gift (With a Ferret in the House)

Just ran across this on the 'net and it reminded me so much of the last few days around our house, I had to share:

1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.
2. Go to closet and collect bag in which present is contained, and shut door.
3. Open door and remove ferret from closet.
4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.
5. Go back and remove ferret from cupboard.
6. Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors, labels, etc...
7. Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping strategy to be formed.
8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove ferret that has been in the drawer since last visit and collect string.
9. Remove present from bag.
10. Remove ferret from bag.
11. Open box to check present, remove ferret from box, replace present.
12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.
13. Try and smooth out paper, realize ferret is underneath and remove ferret.
14. Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.
15. Throw away first sheet as ferret chased the scissors, and tore the paper.
16. Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting ferret in the bag the present came in.
17. Place present on paper.
18. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach. Realize ferret is between present and paper. Remove ferret.
19. Place object on paper, to hold in place while tearing transparent sticky tape.
20. Spend 20 minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from ferret with pair of nail scissors.
21. Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.
22. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase ferret down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.
23. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two-directional turn.
24. Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to ferret's enthusiastic ribbon chase.
25. Repeat steps 13-20 until you reach last sheet of paper.
26. Decide to skip steps 13-17 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper.
27. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.
28. Put present in box, and tie down with string.
29. Remove sting, open box and remove ferret.
30. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for locked room.
31. Once inside lockable room, lock door and start to relay out paper and materials.
32. Remove ferret from box, unlock door, put ferret outside door, close and relock.
33. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear ferret from outside door)
34. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best)
35. Discover ferret has already torn paper.
36. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper.
37. Remember that you haven't got any left because ferret helped with this last year as well.
38. Return to lockable room, lock door, and sit on toilet and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.
39. Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas. Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.
40. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to make drink and feed ferret.
41. Spend 15 minutes looking for ferret until coming to obvious conclusion.
42. Unwrap present, untie box and remove ferret.
43. Go to store and buy a gift bag.

~~Author Unknown

But now you know why the paper is always wrinkled and the gift is always late!

Happy Christmas!

Ferrets vs Logan County - Ferrets win thanks to Larry Haverfield

Thank you, Mr. Haverfield!

The state judge ruled against Logan County, which sought to exterminate the prairie dog population on a private 10,000-acre ranch. Poisoning off the prairie dogs, which are the favorite prey of the black-footed ferret population that was reintroduced to the ranch in 2007, would have been a death sentence to the ferrets.


Ninety-eight percent of the prairie dog population of the Great Plains has been wiped out, and the remaining 2 percent are still subject to the “kill them all” statute put into play in 1901, when a pre-conservation mindset saw the near extermination of the state’s whitetail and mule deer, wild turkeys, bison, pronghorn elk and prairie dogs.

This article raises some additional questions for me too, though:

The ranchers’ legal battles started in 2008 when they refused to allow Logan County exterminators to poison the prairie dogs on their property. A district judge recognized that the FSW had defined the ranch as a promising site for reintroduction of black-footed ferrets and slapped the county with a restraining order.

Logan County tried to repeal that ruling, but on Sept. 20 Judge Jack Lively ruled that the restraining order would stand. The Haverfield-Barnhardt ranch and the 90-feet vegetative boundary that surrounds it are permanently off-limits to poisoning.

Why was Logan County attempting to apply poison to Mr. Haverfield's privately owned land? As I see it, Mr. Haverfield not only stood up for the black-footed ferrets, he stood up for private land rights and against putting poison into our habitats.

Broward Ferret Rescue & Referral Announces 2nd Annual Ferret Spooktactular

The event will be held Saturday, October 16th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Lauderdale Surf Club, 2 Palm Avenue, Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida. Admission is $7.00 per person with proceeds going to support the Ferret Rescue.

Although our ferrets can not attend this particular event, be sure to bring photos of your favorite fuzzies in costume. Prizes will be awarded for "Best Costume" in both the Ferret and Human catagories. (Costumes for the humans are not required but highly encouraged) There will also be food, games, a raffle and a guest speaker - a fun night for a good cause.

The Broward Ferret Rescue & Referral is a small "no kill" shelter founded in 2000. In 2004, it became a 501c3 non-profit organization so your donations are tax deductible. PETCO, ZuPreem and many other corporate sponsors help support the Rescue and its events. Additional support comes from individual memberships, and from fundraising events such as the Annual Ferret Spooktacular.

Stamps to the Rescue!

Stamps to the Rescue!

The other day a friend of mine brought this news article to my attention:

Va. police find ferret in the mail


Stamps the ferret was shipped from a Lynchburg post office in a cardboard box stuffed with food, toy cars and a doll. The destination was a town near San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Stamps may have made it there -- had he stopped wiggling.


A postal inspector, David McKinney, got the call about it at his Roanoke office on the afternoon of Monday, April 5, hours after Stamps and the package had been deposited and $63.55 was paid for overnight delivery.


“The box was dropped off at 2 p.m., and it started moving about 5 p.m.,” McKinney said. “Periodically, it would just vibrate. The postal workers put their hand on the box and it kind of freaked them out.”

The story ended well, though:

McKinney took the ferret to the Roanoke Regional Center for Animal Control and Protection, where the fur ball stayed 13 days. On Monday he was moved to the Roanoke Valley SPCA, where attendants started calling him Stamps and he was put up for adoption.


“You'd be surprised. Some people just have a thing for ferrets,” said Bill Watson, executive director of the Roanoke Valley SPCA.


Indeed. Stamps clawed Wednesday onto the polo shirt of a ferret fan, Craig Bradley, who paid the $25 adoption fee and took him home to join the 16 ferrets in his house near Bonsack. (Bradley and his wife are co-founders of the Big Lick Ferret Shelter & Hospice.)

So imagine my surprise when I saw this headline today:

Stamps to the Rescue!

My first thought was, of course, Stamps the ferret! In actuality, though, it is the new stamp series issued last month by the U.S. Post Office to

“continue a Postal Service tradition of bringing attention to serious social issues of the day … one letter at a time,” said Potter. “This campaign will increase public awareness about sheltered pets and our hope is that it will encourage pet adoption and promote humane and responsible pet care.”

Now, if only the stamp series included a photo of Stamps the Ferret.

Black-Footed Ferret Populations Increasing in the AVEPA

Did you know that black-footed ferrets (Mustela nigripes), one of North America’s most endangered mammals, was once so elusive they were thought to have never existed?

In 1851, naturalist John James Audubon first described black-footed ferrets from a single specimen. For the next 25 years no other specimens were found, nor were there any other sightings in the wild. Even the original specimen disappeared leading to speculation that no such animal had ever existed!

Luckily Dr. Elliot Coues was able to document additional specimens in 1874. They disappeared again in 1974 and were feared to be extinct. In 1981 a small group were discovered in Wyoming, then nearly wiped out by canine distemper just a few years later.

But black-footed ferrets are coming back from the brink of extinction… again! And Arizona’s Game and Fish Department is an important part of that effort. Arizona’s reintroduction effort is helping to establish a free-ranging, self-sustaining population of black-footed ferrets in the Aubrey Valley Experimental Population Area (AVEPA), with a second ferret reintroduction site planned. Last month’s count shows record gains in AVEPA’s black-footed ferret population.

Game and Fish personnel along with a record 103 volunteers (including 61 in one night) worked from dusk to dawn from March 25-29 spotlighting for the nocturnal black-footed ferret.

“It’s exciting news,” said Jeff Corcoran, supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s black-footed ferret recovery effort in Seligman. “The results and the interest level provide hope for the continued success in the recovery of this endangered animal.”

The crew had 54 captures overall (42 individual ferrets with 12 being captured more than once), and 17 were captured in one night. All established new highs for the project. Of the 42 individuals, 29 had never before been trapped.

“We’ve never caught that many ferrets before, and we did so before this year’s breeding and reproduction,” Corcoran said.

A total of 60 never previously captured wild-born ferrets, were trapped in two spotlighting efforts in 2009.

“I’m excited about the numbers,” Corcoran said. “You think about this one spotlighting effort and compare it to where the ferrets once were and you can’t help but be pleased.”

According to BlackFootedFerret.org:

The 1988 Recovery Plan for the black-footed ferret calls for the establishment of 10 or more separate, free-ranging wild populations. By the year 2010, biologists hope to have 1500 ferrets established in the wild, with no fewer than 30 breeding adults in each population. If these objectives are met, the ferret could be downlisted from endangered to threatened status.

The fall spotlighting in the AVEPA will take place in October. If you are interested in volunteering, contact the black-footed ferret field station at azferret@azgfd.govto receive more information. And be sure to write to me about your experience!

Search Amazon.com for black-footed ferrets

Black-Footed Ferrets in Steamy Sex Scandal

It's all over the internet... Romance novelist Cassie Edwards used entire passages from Paul Tolme's article in her book, Shadow Bear. Reading Paul's article about the incident in Newsweek had me laughing out loud.

"They are so named because of their dark legs," Shadow Bear says, to which Shiona responds: "They are so small, surely weighing only about two pounds and measuring two feet from tip to tail."

Shiona then tells Shadow Bear how she once read about ferrets in a book she took from the study of her father. "I discovered they are related to minks and otters. It is said their closest relations are European ferrets and Siberian polecats," she says. "Researchers theorize that polecats crossed the land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska, to establish the New World population."

I know that the language in romance novels can be often be stilted, but a pioneer woman talking about "Researchers theorize" and the Bering land bridge and "the New World" was just too funny.

That said, I'm glad she did it. Had she not, I might not have discovered Paul Tolme's articles, and that would have been unfortunate indeed. In addition to "Toughing It Out in the Badlands", which provided that scintillating post-coital conversation in "Shadow Bear", I highly recommend "Pure Poison" about proposals to kill thousands of prarie dogs in South Dakota. As any ferret fan knows, those endangered prarie dogs are vitally important to the survival of the black-footed ferret, the only native species of ferret we have.

In future entries, I will be writing more about this situation, as well as discussing the importance of the very same prarie lands these animals live on to our ecological well-being. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy Paul Tolme's articles as much as I have, and be sure to visit his web site for even more great articles.