Like everyone, the scenes of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan have left me shell shocked and now, with the problems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, it makes you wonder when enough is enough for the poor country.

I don’t know anyone who lives in the affected region but the tragedy was made more personal when I got an email from someone telling me that he couldn’t contact a vet, Dr Yuji Matsuda, whose house was apparently on the coastline in Sendai, the worst affected area by the tsunami. Dr Matsuda is listed as a ferret savvy vet on my page on Japanese vets and the thought of his house being right in the path of the tsunami made the hairs on my arms stand up with horror.

I hope to God that Dr Matsuda and his family are safe but that got me thinking about the animals he might have had in his surgery. They certainly wouldn’t have survived as I doubt very much that he would have had time to evacuate all of them before the tsunami hit.

It also got me thinking about all the wildlife that would have perished. I know that there are a number of mustelids in Sendai – Japanese martens, ermines, Eurasian badger and the Siberian weasel, amongst other animals – and a couple of years ago an Australian guy, Pablo, got in touch with me asking for advice for a little animal he rescued. It turned out it was a Siberian weasel kit which he called Fitz!

Pablo joined my ferret forum and regaled us with stories about Fitz, which we all loved hearing about

Unfortunately Fitz died from unknown causes after about a year and Pablo was heartbroken. I don’t know where Pablo lived exactly but I do know he was coming back to Australia so I hope he did and is safe and sound down under now.

I’ve been trying to find out if there’ve been any miraculous stories about rescued ferrets for obvious reasons, since this is a blog about ferrets and sundry mustelids, but unfortunately there’s nothing out there.

Although nothing about ferrets, there was a heartwarming story about a wonderful dog who was looking after his friend who was hurt.

The article made me cry, and I’m sure it’ll make any animal lover cry. I just hope that the hurt pooch will recover fully and his protective friend is fine and both will find loving, forever homes with good families.

I know money is tight these days but if anyone out there has a few dollars to spare, there are some organisations in Japan which are looking after the homeless animals and could use our support.

One such organisation is ARK — Animal Refuge Kansai. During the 1995 Hanshin earthquake they not only took in dogs and cats but also birds and rabbits. I would imagine if they found any homeless ferrets, they’d take them in without question.

Another one is Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support, which is coalition of three groups: HEART-Tokushima, Animal Garden Niigata and Japan Cat Network. Again they say that they’ll be looking after all the displaced dogs and cats that are recovered but would also take in other animals which are found.

Thank goodness for people like that who care about the poor animals who can’t speak of their trauma or pain incurred by these dreadful disasters.

Hopefully these organisations will be able to make all the animals in their care forget the horrors they had to endure and will find them homes with families who will shower them with love and affection and make them feel secure again.

I thought this was such a cute video, I just had to share it with you all

A thought! Maybe we should be baking or making some kind of heart-shaped treats for our little darlings for this coming Monday! LOL!

Wishing you and all your ferrets a very HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY filled with much love and laughter!

They continued their walk and when they returned past the same spot and heard the little one still crying, they got in touch with Scottish SPCA who came and collected the pup.

Naming her Luce, after a river in the area, they’re taking care of the little one and once she’s weaned, the’ll be taking her to the International Otter Survival Fund on Skye where she can frolick with other otter pups before being released into the wild when she’s a year old.

Another good new story – I must say I do love ‘em

There are some adorable photos of a mother otter and her 3 pups “skating” on a lake in Somerset, in the UK, in this Daily Mail article.

Mama Otter found where the ice was the thinnest, made a small hole and went fishing. Must have been a cold experience – thank goodness they have such thick pelts to protect them from the elements

Mama Otter scooting along the ice

The otter pups following their mama

This absolutely made my blood boil!

However, I suppose I must do my research. Is the link between tuberculosis in cattle real/serious/imagined?

So here’s the article:

The Welsh rural affairs minister says she is determined to continue with a cull of badgers in Pembrokeshire.

The Badger Trust has been told it can appeal against the outcome of a judicial review that backed the Welsh Assembly Government’s plans.

But Elin Jones told AMs that work would continue until a judge told the assembly government otherwise.

The Badger Trust said the planned cull should be suspended pending the appeal on 30 June.

The cull aims to stop TB being spread to cattle, but the trust disputes it will make any difference.

During a question session in the Senedd, Ms Jones answered a number of questions about the cull, which aims to stop the spread of TB from badgers to cattle.

Labour AM Joyce Watson asked whether the Badger Trust’s appeal against the judicial review that backed the government’s plans would affect the strategy.

The minister said the work would continue until a judge told them otherwise.

The exact location of the proposed cull is a tightly-guarded secret

Liberal Democrat AM Peter Black raised concerns about the badger cull in the assembly plenary session.

He said that many local people had been frightened by government contractors and officials visiting farms in Pembrokeshire wearing masks and escorted by large number of police officers.

The minister said that eradicating TB was the “number one priority” for her.

The Badger Trust had asked for the right to appeal against the outcome of a judicial review held in April, which upheld the government’s right to mount the cull.

It argued that the assembly government and the minister had not shown that a cull would “eliminate or substantially reduce” the rate of TB infection, as the law meant it had to, and that ministers had a duty to weigh the harm to the badger population against the possible benefits to farmers, but had not done so.

‘Casts a shadow’

Mr Justice Elias agreed that these two points were “arguable”, and granted the trust leave to appeal.

“Overall, it casts a shadow over the impending cull start in Wales,” said Gwendolen Morgan, the trust’s legal adviser.

“This should give the minister pause for thought before proceeding, as to start a cull and then stop summarily would be likely to cause a serious spike in TB,” she told BBC News.

The largest study of culling anywhere in the world – the UK-based Krebs Trial – showed that unless it is done comprehensively, culling makes the problem worse, because it disturbs badgers’ social groups, inducing them to roam further afield and infect more cows.

At least 1,500 badgers are due to be killed during the five-year programme.

The UK government is likely to approve “targeted” badger culls in England in the next few years.

I came across this video and it just was so gorgeous I had to share it with you.

Who would have thought that otter pups had to learn how to swim. I imagined that it would have been instinctive for the little ones to go into the water and splash about but obviously not.

Love seeing how the mother looks after her baby and gets it to do what she wants it to, so that it becomes comfortable being in the water

A litter of three baby Asian short-claw otters were born at the Blue Planet Aquarium in Cheshire and two of them were white. Don’t those little critters remind you of a black-eyed white ferret? So cute!!

Apparently an albino otter was spotted in Scotland last year but it’s the first time white otters have been born in captivity. It’s believed the cubs have a rare condition called leucism, a condition characterised by reduced pigmentation in animals, as well as in humans. These cubs are not considered to be albinos since leucism is caused by a reduction in all types of skin pigment, not just melanin.

I almost hate reading the paper or looking at news sites these days.

That dreadful oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, heading towards all the fragile wetlands where there are mink and otters, not to mention all the birds, fish and *shiver* yes, even gators in its path. How ghastly is that for all the wild fauna there.

Then I see that the ash spewing out of that unpronounceable volcano in Iceland is toxic and is threatening the animals in that area.

The American mink, considered an invasive species, has settled there and from what I understand, wolverines and sables can be found around Iceland so those poor creatures, together with the Icelandic ponies, etc, are susceptible to inhaling the toxic ash.

BUT … did you know that, according to Wiki, it is illegal to keep ferrets in Iceland?!? I wonder why? Maybe they’re afraid that the ferrets will jump up and scare the reindeer as they gallop across the tundra! Sheesh.

I hope the worst case scenario won’t happen and both areas will manage to get through with the minimum loss of wild (and domestic) animals.

My ferret friend from Croatia put the YouTube link up on the forum and when I saw this video, all I could do was thank the powers that be that ferrets are not QUITE as mad as these otters are!

I wonder if otters in general are as souped up as these two or are they just a unique pair of whirlwinds – LOL!

I thought it’d be fun to do a web roundup of our ferret’s close cousin, the Black-footed Ferret.

There is so much to learn about this mustelid and I often wonder how close it is in its behaviour to our little friends. If you take a look at the 2nd video, you’ll see that the BFF love doing the weasel wardance so I guess that makes it pretty close in some respects to our ferrets

In the first video you’ll see Jerry Murray is the volunteer veterinarian – he’s certainly been involved with ferrets for a long time. I first heard of him when I got Mash back in 1994.

The Nature Conservancy in Kansas – Black-footed ferret release

Black-footed ferrets are reintroduced at Smoky Valley Ranch.

Black Footed Ferrets

Black-footed Ferrets Make a Comeback: The North American Mustelids …

Once extinct in the wild, the black-footed ferret was reduced to 18 captive individuals. Today, this species now numbers 750 individuals in the wild.

Black-footed Ferret Dance

Plague strikes down black-footed ferrets | MNN – Mother Nature Network

More than 100 black-footed ferrets have died in recent months, victims of a disease we don’t hear much about anymore — plague.

Black-footed Ferret

Tracy, a ferret owner in NSW, very kindly sent me the link to this news article which was about a stoat that had been trapped in the grille of a BMW being driven on a country road at night in Lincolnshire.

Apparently the driver swerved to avoid a hedgehog on the road and as he did, he noticed a pair of startled eyes staring at him in his BMW’s headlights.

He said he didn’t feel a bump so assumed he’d missed the animal and continued on his way home.

Imagine his surprise when he went to his car the next morning and found a stoat stuck in the grille!  And not a very happy little  chappy either, since he was stuck and couldn’t wriggle out between the bars of his prison to get away!

With the help of the RSPCA they released the stoat from the grille and took it to a Wildlife Hospital to be checked out. Fortunately it was in excellent shape after its ordeal so, after having painkillers and antibiotics, it was taken and released back into the wild.

Too bad stoats can’t buy lottery tickets because if they could, I reckon that little fellow would have won the jackpot

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”.

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

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

Well, I guess we can live in hope that that will happen  

How incredible!  Just recently I was contacted by an Israeli guy who asked if he could send me pictures of an animal he came across to find out what it was.

There are some extremely clear shots of it and if you read my page about the animal, you’ll know that having its tail curled above its back means its in a defensive pose, yet it didn’t seem at all frightened by a human being so close.  

It really is such a cute little thing … and I can’t get over how odd it looks

I’m sure you’ll enjoy the clip as much as I did.

Nadia sent me more photos of her cute little fellow and I finally got my act together and wrote about the Marbled Polecat on my site.  If you’re interested in learning more about this fascinating little creature, please have a look

I really can’t get over how small Emo is – and isn’t he just the cutest little mustelid on this earth?  Well no, that’s silly, because I reckon all mustelids are adorable, but this one has really stolen my heart

I was absolutely fascinated to read that giant otters are very vocal and can make about 40 different sounds to communicate with each other.

This particular species (Pteronura brasiliensis) is considered to be the noisiest one of all and has definite sounds to indicate their feelings – for instance, if they are alarmed by something they bark, if annoyed they growl, and they have different types of humming of cooing sounds when they are reassuring other members of the group.

Giant otters are also known as ‘water dogs’, as they are big, sociable animals. I would imagine the fact that they have such a nice disposition probably didn’t help them when they were being hunted for their pelts.

However they are, as their name says, big animals – growing to 2m (6ft) long and are very powerful hunters. They can kill and consume caimans and anacondas as part of their diet. Bleh!

Giant otters, like their European counterparts, are very sociable and move around in family groups centred around the dominant mother and father. Yes they can get aggressive if other groups intrude into their territory but for the most part, seem to be a laid back and close-knit bunch.

If you know mustelids, you’ll know this is very unusual since most other species tend to be solitary animals who only come together to mate, then the female gives birth to her kits and once they’re about 10 weeks old, they all go off on their own.

I’ve often wondered if the solitary species would be different if they were sterilized. We know how aggressive our male ferrets can be with each other if they are left as whole hobs but once they’ve had the snip, they become cuddly little pussycats

Speaking of ferrets … I am suffering badly from withdrawal symptoms! Monty is a lovely toy but hardly a proper substitute from the real McCoy!

I haven’t heard from my friend who’s looking after the gang so I can only assume everything is going well and they are all happily settled. Only 15 more days and we’ll have them back at home with us.

Our flight lands at one in the morning of October 1 and if it were up to me, I would be going straight to my friend’s house to pick the babies up but I don’t think that would be appreciated at all. Hahaha – imagine her face if we knocked on her door to take them home at that time!! She’d kill me.

No, we’ll have to go home first and make a fuss of our dog, and then head up to pick the gang up some time during the late morning.

I’m counting the days off with eager anticipation

Stewart Canham, who’s an amateur wildlife photographer, was there and managed to get a series of shots of the owl with the weasel in its mouth.  Great photography but I felt terrible for the little weasel – totally in the wrong place at the wrong time!

The zoo in Minnesota has had the first litter of fisher kits for ages, and I’m not surprised everyone there are celebrating. As you can see from the photo, they look very much like mustelid babies (surprise surprise ) but they also look surprisingly like the little mink baby that was found which I wrote about, don’t you think?

Did you know fishers were one of the few animals that could kill a porcupine? Apparently they are pretty good at flipping the porcupines over onto their backs and then killing them by attacking their stomachs. However not all fishers get away with that and several do die from the porcupine’s quills.

They’re closely related to the pine marten, but much bigger, and no one really knows why they were called fishers as they don’t seem to have any interest in fish!!

I thought the pine marten was a bit of a stretch but when I wrote my post on March 3 I had no idea what type of mustelid the little fellow that was called a “ferret” was.

I’ve been researching the long tailed weasel to add to my site and almost fell over when I saw a photograph of one.

The picture was taken by Alden M. Johnson © California Academy of Sciences

So … mystery solved!

I must say that I find it fascinating to learn so much about mustelids as I add pages about them to my site. They are such a wonderfully diverse group of animals and all so different!

I came across an article about the Black-footed Ferret on the DesertUSA site and this photo was there, implying that it was a picture of a BFF kit!

There was also a video of this little creature, which was found by someone, and the clip was entitled “the Ferret“!

Good grief … no wonder people think ferrets are wild animals when mistakes like this are made! Grumph!

If you look at this picture of a pine marten, taken from the Wikipedia site, it looks to me that the little kit belongs to the martes family rather than to the mustela one. But it’s certainly is a cute looking animal and I’d love to know exactly what it is so if anyone knows, please tell me

But anyway, back to the actual article about black-footed ferrets.

I confess to being irritated by the emotive language used when writing about most of the mustelid family, be they weasels, BFFs, or even our own pet ferrets. Just look at the article on the DesertUSA site …

Imagine this … a book about black-footed ferrets written at the time by a 9-year old boy called Andrew Licht, who then went on to illustrate the book and publish it when he was 10! How cool is that?

The book, “The Ferret Capture” came about when young Andrew went on a trip with his older brother and his father, who is a wildlife biologist with the National Park Service. His father Dan, was asked to come along to help catch the black-footed ferrets so that they could be implanted with tracking devices, as well as giving them vaccinations. How lucky were his sons to accompany him on such an adventure!

You can read more in the Rapid City Journal but I think it’s absolutely wonderful to know that Andrew will be donating proceeds of his book to the Black-Footed Ferret Recovery Program.

If you go to that site, you’ll see that they’ve had a bumper year for kits in 2007, similar to a good one the year before, and you’ll also be able to see photos of the little ones. They are all just so adorable and it’s great to know that the breeding program is so successful

I have no idea where you can get a hold of this book but I think it’d be a great thing if ferret owners got behind Andrew by buying copies of it!

This story is about “Percy the Polecat”, who has made his home in the wall cavity of the police station in the city of Gloucester.

Take a look at the slideshow of Percy and you decide whether he’s a dark sable or is, indeed, a European polecat. Certainly the comments at the bottom of the article seem to lean towards him being an escaped ferret.  However the article has a quote from someone in the Mammal Society so do we presume they took a look at Percy and proclaimed him to be a proper polecat?

You can compare Percy to pictures of this European Polecat to see if you can spot the difference.  I must say he looks very much like a proper polecat to me.

But then – look at this photo of our boy, CJ … I’d say he could be mistaken for a proper polecat too, if he had been found wandering around the English countryside!

Hahaha – I just had this thought flash through my mind of someone picking up CJ and feeding him a proper polecat diet and CJ looking at the food as if it had been put down there by aliens.  ”Eeeeuuuwww  – what’s with all this natural stuff?  Bring on my tasty dry food, please!”

I wonder if anyone in Gloucester will sit up and go, “Ahhhhh, golly gosh!  Looks just like my polecat which went missing last year!”

Now here is where the confusion sets in … sable ferrets are called ‘polecats’ both in the UK and here in Oz by most people.  We don’t have wild polecats in Australia so one would know automatically that a found sable ferret was, in fact, someone’s lost pet.

But it must be extremely hard in England to figure out if Percy, and others like him, are indeed wild polecats or someone’s pet who went walkabout.  I guess that’s where microchipping would come in useful!

I found a short clip about weasels made by the same Russian guy who made the videos of those Siberian weasels a while ago.

About halfway through the clip you’ll notice a little mouse climbing up the side of the basket and the two weasels sniff and ignore it! I hope that wasn’t their lunch!! Eeeuuww

I must say, watching this video by polevv, one of the Russian mustelid fans who has a number of videos on YouTube, is quite an eye opener.

The Siberian weasel is playing (well it looks like it was playing but seeing how the ferret’s tail fluffed up, I’m not sure if the ferret was particularly impressed with the game ) with the ferrets — it’s such a fast little animal and it was really surprising to see how slow the ferret seemed in comparison! I reckon the weasel would win any argument between the two hands down!

I wondered where they found the weasel and how they managed to have it running around their flat, obviously quite friendly and tame. Not too sure I’d be bold enough to try and tame a wild weasel

There is a new movie coming out in the first week of December called The Golden Compass about a fantasy world in which a girl called Lyra lives. In that world a person’s soul lives outside their body, in the form of a “daemon”, a talking animal spirit that accompanies them through life. Children’s daemons are usually several animals until the child’s personality matures and then settles to being just one animal.

Lyra has a daemon called Pantalaimon, and one of the animals it turns into is an ermine.

When you’re at the website, click on the tab which says “Daemons”, and when it takes you to that page, then click the arrow in the circle at the bottom of “Daemons of the Golden Compass”.

HOWEVER, if you watch the trailer, you’ll see that Lyra’s daemon appears to be a sable ferret rather than an ermine! Now I have absolutely no complaint about seeing a ferret instead of an ermine but I wonder if the producers thought they were showing a stoat and messed up

To go back to the Daemons page … you can do a test to see what your daemon is and that’s quite fun.

Click on the right hand circle which says “Meet your Daemon” and take the test. I did it and ended up with a fox as my daemon. I have nothing against foxes but I was really hoping to have an ermine (or even a ferret) as my guiding light!!

I suppose I could always try to manipulate the test to see if I can fix it – hahaha!

If you look on the Internet, there are several sites which talk about this film being anti-religious.

Obviously that’s not something I can comment on until I see it but it’s also not a subject I want to touch on here. The only reason I mentioned the film is to pass on the fact that it does seem to show our favorite pet as a talking animal spirit

My goodness — I couldn’t believe it when I saw this video. It’s taken by the same people and so I assume that the sables are the same as in that earlier video but now grown up. I’d say they were around 3 months old but obviously can’t be certain.

The guy obviously loves his mustelids and watching these sables flying around his apartment made me so glad that our ferrets don’t act quite like that. Yes they have their mad moments but these sables take the cake in craziness )

They have such interesting little faces, almost fox-like. Since they’re from the marten family, it’s not surprising to see that they look similar to a pine marten but they also look like the fisher, don’t you think?

If you look closely, you’ll see a ferret on the floor and it seems to get along quite well with his mad cousins.

There was also another video, also by Vladimir, of a Siberian weasel. Fascinating to see it interacting with the same ferret (I think).

Anyway, watch and laugh

I saw this clip on YouTube and absolutely fell in love with the little sable kits.

They are just so adorable and I was both laughing and crying when I saw them following the guy around in the paddock. Laughing because it was so sweet and crying at the thought of people keeping these magnificent animals in cages for the express purpose of breeding them to make fur coats.

The folks who made the video seem to love their sable kits as much as any ferret owner and I had to chuckle when I saw the kits climbing up the guy’s pants. The only type of ferrets in my life who have climbed up my slacks/trackpants have been silvermitt and BEW (DEW) girls!

None of the boys I’ve had could do it and, surprisingly, even though I’ve had a couple of sable fellows who’ve scaled the back of washing machines and other objects, they showed no interest in pulling themselves up my slacks. I find that so strange!

But back to the video … it’s about 6-7 minutes long, I think, so grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable and enjoy

I think this blog about otters is so gorgeous and … with a tiny bit of tweaking … could apply to ferrets as well

Our pets live to play as well, don’t they, and they have the ability to make their owners laugh so much that their worries are forgotten for a while.

I reckon it’s a mustelid trait and I bet if others of the species were domesticated, you’d find they all would have the same endearing habits.

Daily Om

The Spiritual Nature Of Otters

An otter frequently rolls over and over without touching its head, arms, legs, or tail in the water. This smooth, effortless accomplishment baffles even otter experts. In many ways otters are mystical creatures and we can learn much from their playful spirit.

Though a member of the weasel family, otters are awkward on land, but are expert swimmers and divers. There are several species and otters inhabit almost every water source from rivers and marshes to the ocean. They also live on all continents except for Australia and the Antarctic. Their playful, curious antics have endeared them to humans everywhere.

According to Native American totem tradition, otters have much to teach us. Often referred to as the clowns of the water world, otters live to play.

blog.myspace.com/angel_of_suburbia

I came across this newspaper article this morning and couldn’t resist sharing it. I think the story was published last year but even so … aren’t the photograhs absolutely gorgeous

I think it’s great to see how animals of different species can get on so well together!

A weasel kit frolics with the cat mother’s new litter in West China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region in this undated photo.

The kit was brought home July 21 by the pregnant cat.

Even after the cat gave birth to a litter of five kittens on July 23, they got along well with each other. [Xinhua]

Weasel kit and its cat mother

I came across a number of feel good articles about otters the other day … AND also found this fabulous site which shows an otter playing with what looks like a ping pong ball. My goodness it’s so dexterous!

Mind you, knowing how ferrets hold our fingers with their paws, I shouldn’t be surprised to see an otter playing so naturally!!

Otter at Play

You can see the otter happily playing with that ball here….

First Birthday for Orphan Otters

This article talks about 3 orphan otters in England which made it to their first birthday and are continuing to grow and stay healthy, thank goodness!

THREE otter cubs at Mole Hall Wildlife Park, near Widdington, have battled through losing their mother to celebrate their first birthday this week.Thanks to the sterling efforts of carers at the park, the trio are now well on their way to adulthood.

Vicki Youens, animal warden, said: “Sadly a year ago their mum Ripple was found dead in her enclosure. At the same time, the staff came across three tiny otter cubs, sleeping in the box like little balls of fluff all curled up together.

The Saffron Walden Reporter – First birthday for orphan otters

Newborn responds to care at SeaWorld

Here’s another article about an orphaned otter over in California who is being nursed to health by the staff at SeaWorld.

Newborn responds to care at SeaWorld
By Terry Rodgers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 2, 2007

SAN DIEGO – A baby California sea otter found weak and starving on a remote beach in Santa Barbara County has been nursed back to health at SeaWorld.

Mark Bressler, a senior animal care specialist at SeaWorld, cradled a sea otter pup found July 21 on a beach in Santa Barbara County. The newborn has gained about a pound since she arrived.

The orphaned otter was about 5 days old and still had her umbilical cord attached when she came ashore July 21 at Jalama Beach. Wildlife officials don’t know why the pup was abandoned by her mother.

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro — Abandoned sea otter regains health

This was a really interesting article about fishers and what I liked most is that the writer did ackowledge that these poor creatures are regularly villified because they are “predators”.

What are animals supposed to do when they are hungry? Go to McDonald’s???

By K.C. MYERS

staff writer

July 31, 2007

WEST BARNSTABLE — They look nothing like cats and they don’t fish, that much is apparent from a close-up look at the two fishers now being rehabilitated at the Cape Wildlife Center.

Secretive, nocturnal and never officially seen alive on Cape Cod, two martes pennanti, colloquially called “fishers,” and erroneously “fisher cats” are now under care at the Humane Society of the United States’ Cape-based animal hospital.

One was found in the middle of Route 16 in Mendon this May, a baby female weighing just over one pound. Her companion, also an abandoned juvenile brought a month later from Needham, weighed just over three pounds.

As of last week, the two were full of energy, playing on the walls, ceiling and tree limbs of their woodland cage like kittens “without a mama to tell them what to do,” said Robbie Fearn, the center’s director.Because of their stealthy nature, humans are not likely to see them alive in the wild even as more head this way, Fearn said.

The animals have long, weasel-like bodies and thick, fluffy tails. Their luxurious fur often is used for coats, Fearn said.

Their legs are longer than a ferret’s but shorter than a cat’s, and thicker. The ears look bear-like, and they have big, strong paws with retractable claws — the one feature they do share with house cats.

Like most animals belonging to the weasel family — known as mustelids and including weasels, mink, wolverine and skunk — they give off a faint scent of skunk.

Fishers are the latest predator to return to the Cape, many years after they pretty much disappeared in New England as a result of fur trapping and deforestation in the 1800s.

Their return to the Cape was documented when a dead one was found in 2005 along Route 130 in Sandwich and another was discovered on a Chatham beach in 2006. Reports of their piercing baby-like shrieks have come from as far north as Truro, Fearn said.

Like the other larger predators, they are vilified as a result of their appetite for house cats, small dogs and chickens.

“People term them as vicious,” Fearn said. “We like to call them aggressive. They are very intent predators.”

It would be nearly impossible to call the two kits frolicking in the cage “vicious.” One of them has been bottle fed three times a day by Fearn’s staff. She sniffed eagerly as humans approached.

CapeCodTimes.com – Fishers appear to be making a comeback

I came across this article and thought it was extremely amusing … it also gives information about the Siberian weasel so also very interesting for all mustelid fans

A SIBERIAN weasel is living in my garden.

That’s not a lyric from the Lennon-McCartney ganja period. There really is a Siberian weasel in the greenery of my compound on Julu Lu.

I’ve encountered him twice now, and the first time – about 1am as I arrived home after walking from work in drizzling rain – caused a double take on both our parts.

He was just near the front entrance on the footpath, full of confidence and arrogance, and held eye contact with me for some time before sniffing the air disdainfully and ambling back into the garden.

I’m sure he’s a male. Fully grown specimens are supposed to be 66 centimeters from nose to tail and by my reckoning he is slightly larger than that. He is mustard-colored, with a tail that turns brown about halfway down.

I’ve named him Boris.Now while the Siberian, or yellow, weasel (Mustela siberica) has migrated throughout Asia, I like to think that Boris came to us from Russia. He has that Cossack air about him.

I can just picture this scene from nature in the not-too-distant past. Boris arrives back at the burrow after a hard night’s work with a couple of snow mice and a shank of chilled, indiscernible carrion.

There’s no nagging doubt, a weasel now calls Shanghai home — Shanghai Daily | 上海日报 — English Window to China News

You really must watch this movie – it shows the breeding program, where black-footed ferret kits are brought up and then released into the wild!

The kits are SO CUTE! They are just like their ferret cousins, and I wanted to just reach into the movie and cuddle them!

Well worth spending 5 minutes of your time watching what the Fish & Wildlife Service is doing to help black-footed ferrets to be reintroduced into the wild.

Wildlife biologists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service explain how they are making great strides toward saving this endangered species that was once thought to be extinct.

From breeding ferret offspring to preparing them for release back into the wild, the recovery effort of these cute carnivores is rich in math and science.

Running time 5:25 minutes.

Problem Solving Movie – The Blackfooted Ferret

This is so incredibly cute … I don’t know how long they’ll keep the clip there but I do hope you all get to see it.

It was so funny to watch the baby just bobbing there while mommy went for a quick zip around the pool! They really are special little animals!

Apr. 19 –

Baby otter learns to swim with a little help from its mum.

A tiny sea otter pup is mesmerizing visitors at an Aquarium in Wakayama prefecture, 500 kilometre southwest of Tokyo.

The baby, who has not named yet, was born on March 30, weighed 1.2 kilograms.

Since then, hundreds of spectators gathered around its water tank, which had previously been overshadowed by aquarium’s popular star Penguin.

Videos, News Videos, Top Story Videos, Headline News Videos & More | Reuters.com

All-About-Ferrets.com

All-About-Ferrets.com