The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1900-01-13
HANDLING FERRETS.
HOW PROFESSIONAL RAT CATCHERS
USE THE ANIMALS.
fRese Fiery Eyed. Razor Toothed
Little Beasts Are Effective Where
Traps and Poison Fail-They Are
Generally Worked With a MuxzIe.

Traps and Poison Fail-They Are
Generally Worked with a Muxzie.
"Weaseis and ferrets," said a pro-
fessional rat catcher, are about the
same thing. The imported ferrets
trained to the business are larger than
the weasel, that is all. After | am
through with rat catching use my fer
rets to hunt rabbits out of brush piles,
hay and straw stacks, which is prof
table business when rabbits are
plenty. What you call rabbits over
here we in England call hares.
when man once starts in as
professional rat catcher and gets to
understand training and working fer
rets, there is such an attraction in the
trade that he never willingly gives it
up. It's a profitable business without
too much competition"
''Do the ferrets ever bite you?'
Its very careless and awkward
man that gets bitten by a trained fer
ret. When one is bitten by an enrag-
ed ferret, the bite is of q very severe
character, extremely painful and slow
to heal"
AS the rat catcher talked G-month-
old ferret, his fiery little eyes gleam-
ing like living gems, was crawling over
his lap and trying to get in under his
coat "This fellow" said the rat
catcher, ''is as gentle as a kitten and
likes to have his back rubbed and to
be caressed as well as any cat you ever
saw. When the ferret bites Il rats
neck, he knows exactly what he is do
ing, and his front teeth, cutting like
razors, go right through the jugular.
''Of course we generally muzze them
when we send them in after rats, and
we always muZZle them when we send
them in after rabbits. If their teeth
were at liberty, they would kill the
first rat or rabbit they met and would
remain in the hole sucking its blood.
When we put ferret into house aft
er rats, we stop up all the holes at the
outside of the house except one or two.
Over these we place bags, and the fer
rets, driving the game before them,
run the rats into the bags. We keep
the ferret without his ordinary meals
before using him, and this makes him
keener In his chase.
''Its mighty easy to spoil a ferret.
After young ferret has been badly
bitten by rat as sometimes happens,
you can't get him to go into hole
muzzled. But when a ferret is full
grown and has the skill and courage
that he should have he is holy terror
to rats and is valuable animal |
would not sell well trained ferret for
$50, the price of a good horse. Such
ferret l should be willing to put In
pit with 80 rats, and he could in a short
time kill every one of them. Rats are
great fighters when they are cornered,
but no other animal of the same size
has as much courage as a ferret or
weasel.
"In England the largest ferrets are
called polecat ferrets and are a cross
of the two animals, which are much
alike. In this country the word pole
cat is applied to the skunk, an entirely
different animal. The word polecat
is supposed to be an abbreviatlon OF
Polish cat, and the animal abounds
all over Europe. The mink is much
like the weasel except that it is larger,
and many depredations that are at
tributed to the weasel are committed
by the mink. All these animals prowl
by night, and they frequently go many
miles in search of food, even coming
into towns and the suburbs of cities"
Audubon, who was a close student
of nature, was delighted with the
weasel, or American ferret. It's long,
flexible body, its extraordinary length
of neck, the closeness of its fur it's
keenness of scent, its wonderful agill-
ty and quickness Of movement, all eX-
cited his admiration.
An American writer says: "The COM
mon weasel has sometimes been
caught and carried off by large hawks
and owls. Sorry was the experience
of the captor in such cases. He has
caught Tartar. The captive will bite
into the sides Of the enemy, so that
both will fall to the ground the bird
mortally wounded and the weasel usu-
ally comparatively unhurt.
The weasePs courage in defending IT.
self when attacked by birds of prey is
universally admitted, nor Is it deficient
in fierce opposition to dogs and even
men when its nest is invaded by Ell
ther. 1t usually kills for food, biting
through the head into the brain with
such expertness that it's victim can
scarcely utter cry of pain 1t usually
eats the brain first; then the rest of
the body follows. In pursuing mice,
rats and moles it follows them into
their runs or holes. A weasels
proximity to a poultry yard is not to
be desired. But in barns, hayricks
and grain stacks it is decidedly ad-
Yantageous, as it will surely EXTENT
nate or drive away rats and mice"
The weasel's characteristics are not
ed in two American sayings, Catch
a weasel asleep" and Sooner trust
weasel with eggs" Stories are told
that weasel will watch a hen on the
nest for an hour, waiting for a freshly
laid egg.-Indianapolis News.
Freak of the Lightning.
A curious case of lightning destruc-