The campaign to legalize ferrets as pets in California (yes that’s a thing) recently let us know about My Name Is Musky, a picture book for young people written by Matty Giuliano and illustrated by Morgan Spicer. It’s rare to find a cute book about pets that actually focuses on ferrets! “Poor Musky! A small white ferret is abandoned and left by the side of the road. Things start to look up, though, when a nice lady named Stephanie shows up and saves the day. It’s off to the cozy, warm animal shelter for this little ferret—but will anyone want to adopt a different kind of furry animal friend?” Check out the official web site too.

image c. 2022 Humane Press

Andrew Dickman is a professional storyboard artist in the field of animation. He is also, in his copious spare time, the creator of the on-line anthropomorphic comic called Roomies. Actually, of late he hasn’t had much spare time while he’s working multiple animation jobs, so it’s been a while since Roomies has been updated. Which means now might be a good time to catch up with Andy, Swain, and Mary, the anthropomorphic college-age room-mates who inhabit this fair comic. Visit Andrew’s web page to find out what we mean. Andrew has said that he hopes to bring this comic back to life some day, so make sure to keep checking back!

image c. 2014 Andrew Dickman

Housepets! Are Gonna Sniff Everybody is the fourth annual collection of Rick Griffin’s award-winning (Ursa Major Awards, Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip, 2009 to 2012) Internet full-color comic strip, following Housepets! Are Naked All the Time, Housepets! Hope They Don’t Get Eaten, and Housepets! Can Be Real Ladykillers. Book 4 collects the strips from June 6, 2011 to June 4, 2012. These are the story-arcs #43, “The Great Water Balloon War” to #55, “The Trial in Heaven”, plus all the one-off gag strips between those.

Book 4 is back to lacking a real title page. Boo, hiss!

North Charleston, SC, CreateSpace, August 2013, trade paperback $13.95 (53 pages).

Fred Patten, the editor of Best in Show: Fifteen Years of Outstanding Furry Fiction (Sofawolf Press, July 2003; republished as Furry!); Already Among Us: An Anthropomorphic Anthology (Legion Printing, June 2012); and The Ursa Major Awards Anthology: A Tenth Anniversary Celebration (FurPlanet Productions, June 2012), will have a new anthology published by FurPlanet go on sale at Anthrocon 2013.

What Happens Next: An Anthology of Sequels presents eleven new stories by fan-favorite Furry authors featuring their popular characters:

• M. C. A. Hogarth and her Alysha Forrest
• Brock Hoagland and his Perissa and Maelith
• Kevin Frane (Rikoshi) and his Iolite League
• Kristin Fontaine and the crew of the interstellar freighter Tai-Pan
• Michael Payne and Cluny, the sorceress squirrel with Crocker, her human familiar
• Jenner and Dr. Benjamin Rat, M.B., B.S. D.R.A.N.Z.C.O.G. F.R.A.C.G.P.
• Kyell Gold and a new tale of Argaea
• Elizabeth McCoy and her feline centauroid Kintarans
• Chas. P. A. Melville and his Felicia, the Vixen Sorceress
• Ken Pick and his Brigit Bunny on the planet of the foxlike Thalendri
• and Roz Gibson and her Jack Salem

Poink has been significantly modified over the years

Regular Funday PawPet Show cast member Poink T. Ferret has been put up for auction by his owner, Jackrabbit.^[1][2]

The pawpet - originally a Folkmanis design - has been modified over the years to include balloons, ping-pong balls, and red LED eyes. He was shaved by Uncle Kage during its last visit to Anthrocon, and currently wears hair implants.

The final bid was $237.50. Shipping costs were not specified.

Mustelidae and lovers of mustelidae rejoice! Instead of severely cutting back the Fish & Wildlife Service's Black-Footed Ferret breeding program, enough public comment was generated that the program has been fully funded for this fiscal year, including a move to Fort Collins, CO. from Casper WY.

Check out http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/08/27/news/wyoming/243ec0663ee6f2628725706a000144dd.txt
It's the second story from the top.

The legislation, SB 89 by Sen. Dede Alpert, D-San Diego, would have granted amnesty under limited conditions to ferrets already in California. A $75 license fee would have been dedicated to a study of whether ferrets pose any danger.

You can find more here.

- WhiteFire

Can your ferret climb through an 18-ft dryer hose in less than six seconds? If so, he or she could have won the gold at the 8th Annual Ferret Olympics. For more info, see this Fox News article.

I don't normally post an article of personal interest to me, but several rescue groups co-ordinated this weekend in tandem with the Washington County Animal Control in Hagerstown, MD, to seize ferrets from an illegal and disgusting ferret breeder. 62 ferrets are now at Rocky's Ferret Rescue in various states of health and age. 14 ferrets went 'missing' from the original inspection and the seizure, and the owner, Di Bachman, is being held accountable for thier whereabouts. For info on the rescue, please go to this site. WARNING! DISTURBING IMAGES!
The shelter is in desperate need for funds for vet examinations, neuterings and other necessities. SOS, the ferret shelter aid organization at Anthrocon, has already donated for much needed ADV tests, but more aid is needed. The last large rescue from a breeder cost over $3000 for 33 ferrets, and this time it's 62, some in much worse condition. If anyone in MD or elsewhere can donate even $5, please do!

Saw this on my local news today. Apparently ferrets have a taste for alcohol. It's just a shame the ferret in question was abandoned in this bin. :(

News Article from the BBC.

In a disgusting display of wanton animal cruelty, a man who was told during a layover that the ferret he had smuggled on board in a cooler wasn't allowed on the plane, proceded to beat the animal to death and attempt to flush it down the toilet. The airline offered to take the animal to the local SPCA if the man wanted to continue his flight, and was shocked at how the passenger chose to handle the problem. American Airlines does not allow ferrets in the cabin, and they must have special arrangement to be taken as cargo.

"Writer Ferrets: Chasing the Muse", the third novel in Richard Bach's "Ferret Chronicles" series, was published on October 1. Click the title for its Amazon.com weblink.

An attempt to stop the ban on ferrets in NYC by showing that the Board of Health had no reason to ban them fell through in Manhattan Supreme Court when the judge decided that there was "rational factual basis" to declare the animals vicious and unpredictable rabies mongers.
Elsewhere, the suitablity of ferrets as pets is not in question.

Richard Bach, author of the 1970 best-selling inspirational fantasy Jonathan Livingston Seagull, has just launched a new series, "The Ferret Chronicles". The first two, Rescue Ferrets at Sea and Air Ferrets Aloft, will be published in June by Simon & Schuster/Scribner; $15.00 and 176 pages each (which implies that they are being written to a formula). Amazon.com has posted them with pictures of their cover art for pre-publication order sales; presumably plot synopses will be added soon. According to a press release, books 3, 4, and 5 are to be published before the end of 2002.

Of interest in regard to our current poll, two psychologists have been running a study on what sort of people own ferrets, anyways?
They cite the increase of young, single women in an increase in popularity of both ferrets and rabbits as pet animals in England. Women especially see this traditonal country working animal for the affectionate, playful animal it is.