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.
Grumph!

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