Ferret Info

A brief history of the ferret

Since the ancient times, ferrets have been true friends and great helpers for people. As for their origin, so these are domestic mammals of the Mustela putorius furo type. Due to their long and lean bodies as well as inquisitive character, ferrets are perfectly equipped (with powerful paws) for getting into the deepest holes to chase rabbits, rats, mice and other rodents out of the burrows. Thus, they were used to hunt rabbits as well as to protect barns from rodents. Later on, in the Middle Ages, these animals were widely used in the navy, for the same reasons.

There are three types of ferrets known on the earth; they are all very close to each other genetically: it is black polecat (aka – the forest polecat), white ferret (or steppe polecat) and black-feet ferret. Black and white ferrets are widely distributed in Europe, and black-feet ferret habitat in North America and is an endangered specie listed in the International Red Book.

Domestic ferrets came from black (the forest) ferrets, which are distributed almost throughout the forested parts of Europe. By its lifestyle black polecat is a nocturnal predator, active during the evening and morning twilight. Black ferret settles in the forests on in floodplains, on the shores of lakes and wetlands, in ravines and near human settlements. The forest polecat eats only animal food, mainly vole, mice, frogs, occasionally hamsters, jerboa, hare. Ferrets living near rivers catch small fish. Sometimes, if no other food is available, black ferrets eat large insects.

They say the domestication of ferrets was started in south-western Europe, more precisely in Spain. For the first time ferrets were mentioned in the literature of BC times.

As the time went by, ferrets spread in the northern Europe as a result of the artificial resettlement of rabbits. In the first decades of the XIII century ferrets have already ’conquered’ the territory of present-time Germany. In the United Kingdom, ferrets are known as «privileged» animals, because in the XIII century only the richest of the clergy had enough money to keep ferrets. In the United Kingdom as well as in Germany, where customs and traditions have always been cherished, ferrets are still popular with hunting activities.

Information about ferrets for the first time appeared in America in 1600. Ferrets are known to be brought to the USA by Virginia colonizers in early 1607. And in the war for independence, in 1775, the colonial army of Massachusetts chose ferrets as an amulet.

On the continent, domesticated ferrets were not popular until the beginning of the 19th century. It was the time when America began expanding to the west, and the first inhabitants of the new territories used ferrets as a cheap means to protect the crops and other harvest from rodents. Ferrets were the most wide spread means to protect the barns of rodents until 1930. In the mid 20^th century one could find enough information about these animals in the press and other literature. Thus, special profession appeared – ferret-master. They traveled to farms with several trained ferrets to kill rats and mice. This profession became very popular and existed until the invention of effective poisons against rodents, in the second half of the 19^th century; some companies began breeding ferrets and used their fur as a cheap alternative to mink.

Pet ferrets became fashionable in the late 1970s it was when medicine learned how to remove anal glands. Dr. Wendy Winstead, previously a folk-singer was the first to contribute to the fact that ferrets became popular as domesticated animals.

Later on, an interest in ferrets as decorative pets arouse, in North America, Europe, and Australia. At that time animals were bought at animal farms. At the present time, in the United States, ferrets are on the fifth place in popularity ranking among other pets. At the present time, America and Japan are among the leading countries in breeding decorative ferrets.

Ferrets also used to run cables and wires through large pipes. The organizers of such shows in London made ferrets run sound and TV cables on the wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana.Since 1950-s, ferrets have been used for laboratory animal testing in toxicology, virology, endocrinology, pharmacology, as well as other areas of medicine to study stomach ulcer, lung disease, influenza, and the like. The reason for that is that ferrets are anatomically and physiologically very close to human beings.