FERRETS A FAILURE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2246, 7 October 1889, Page 2

FERRETS A FAILURE

A writer m the " Nor:h Otigo Times" says: "I am sorry to state tlmt the ferrets, from which so much was expect d have proved a failure. Of tha thousands that have been liberated on the variourune io the district only a few have Revive i the winter. From inform i'io' received f. oat the overseers < £ poieoni-g g&aka and otnero I can confidently a sort that on most rues tho fo'rota are almost extinc 1 , One ruuho'dor wh> timed ont several hundred* aa)B that be believer most of them died within a fortnight, and another tells me that he has seen only five f errata this soaeon and these woio

d » a . d ones. On one ran, by way of ex P° m " etlt > 12 ° f , e . r . r # ofc ' were hberated on a " islaiid vrere rabbits were numerous, and after teing there for a few weeks li became evident that the ferrets preferred to dio of starvation or to oatoao another than riithjr take the troable to kill the rabbits whioh were not m tbo least redaced or disconcerted by tne presence of the r 'nttaral enemy.' Distemper, too, ban made Bad havoc m thn breeding hatches, and everything connoetad wiih them haß been so dis learning that those who were onco eothuaiaetio m advocating ferrtts have become very eceptio*l aboat their utility. It ie just possible, however, that if steps were tuken to gradually acclimatise them, and to accustom them to forage for themselves, ferrets may yet become powerful destructive agents, evea In the Upper Waitaki."