T 2 THE REASON WHY : 



"I ordered the proper officer of my court to ferret them out of their 

 respective lanes, and bring them before me." TATLKR. 



250. Why are ferrets dangerous animals to keep in a state of 

 domestication ? 



Because they are animals incapable of discriminating attachment, 

 and the tanieness they evince is deceptive, being nothing more than 

 the indifference and absence of fear 

 and anger, which are the result of 

 hereditary dependence upon and 

 association with mankind. But 

 when an opportunity arrives, and 

 this animal is tempted by the taste or smell of blood, the ferret 

 becomes indiscriminate and savage in its attack even on human 

 beings. 



i51. The following anecdote related by Mr. Jesse in illustration of the ferocity of 

 Hie ferret is recorded here with a view of discouraging persons from making pets 

 of these vicious creatures : Some few years ago, a poor woman, holding a mangled 

 infant in her arms, rushed, screaming * .th agony and fright, into my friend's house, 

 who is a surgeon, imploring him to save the child's life, who, she said, had been 

 almost killed by a ferret. The face, neck, and arms, were dreadfully lacerated, the 

 jugular vein had been opened, as also the temporal artery ; the eyes were greatly 

 injured, and, indeed, the child, who is still living, has lost the entire sight of one 

 of them, and has very imperfect vision in the other. Having stopped the still 

 bleeding vessels, my friend accompanied the mother to her cottage, on entering 

 which the child, in some degree recovering from its state of apparent death, began 

 to cry, when the ferret was in an instant seen rushing from behind some bavins 

 where he had taken shelter, and, with his head erect, boldly came forward snd met 

 the infuriated parent in the middle of the room, still holding the infant in her arms. 

 On my friend's kicking the ferret, as the fl ~st impulse of protection, the animal 

 endeavoured to seize his leg, and not until his back was broken by repeated kicks 

 did he give over his earnest and reiterated attempts to renew his sanguinary fenst ; 

 indeed, whilst in the agonies of death, the piteous screams of the child seemed 

 u> rouse him to vain efforts to regain his prey. The ferret was of large growth, 

 and much distended with the infant's blood ; and, although formerly of peculiar 

 shyness, yet he lost sight of fear and became ferocious in the pursuit of the unfor- 

 tunate infant. It appears the poor woman had left her child (about six months old) 

 in a cradle whilst she went to market, when it is supposed the infant's cry had 

 arrested the attention of the ferret, who managed to make his escape, and thus 

 effected his purpose. There is good reason to believe he must have passed more 

 than half an hour in the indulgence of his appetite, from the circumstances of the 

 neighbours having heard the piercing shrieks of the child for a long time without 

 the slightest suspicion of the mother's absence. 



