Fast-breeding ferrets ‘threat to our poultry’

Friday 9th October 2009, 2:56PM BST.

Richard Baudains

A ST Mary farmer has called for tough pest control measures following an apparent explosion in the population of feral ferrets.

Richard Baudains, who owns the Le Pepinière Farm in Rue de Crabbé, says the animals, often wrongly described as polecats, are killing significant numbers of chickens and ducks.

One of the Island’s pest control officers said the number of feral ferrets he was catching had increased tenfold in the past decade.

Cris Jolley said that he had caught 20 in the past year, compared with two a year a decade ago.
The problem has got so bad that one farmer said that he had contacted the Environment department to complain about it, but said that nothing had been done.

Mr Baudains said that he had caught four ferrets in the past two months and another two on Sunday night.

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1
jerseyfarmer

October 9, 2009 at 5:08 pm

I would lay rat traps,or just shoot them.the rat traps do work.be very careful,they really do bite.but that is not their fault.it’s the idiots who obtain them,and then can’t look after them,and let them loose into the countryside.

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2
Samuel Robinson

October 9, 2009 at 6:15 pm

We have just had some of our chickens killed after having them for just a few days – the ferret burowed under the cage and took three chickens and left one dead – it was very upsetting. Something definitely needs to be done. We now have to lock them up in a box off the ground at night time as I don’t want the same thing to happen again.

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3
Overpopulated

October 9, 2009 at 6:20 pm

I have seen about 4 ferrets squashed on the road this year, I have never seen any as roadkill before – there must be an awful lot out there.

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4
Meryl Faulkner

October 10, 2009 at 9:52 pm

I live in a city in the US (I’m originally from Wales where the native polecat has almost become extinct)where feral ferrets are not a problem – and there are tens of thousands of domestic ferrets kept as pets in the US (even in the few places where they are supposedly illegal.) Three of mine got out in the last 20 years and were killed within 12 hours – one by a dog, one a car, and one by a raccoon. Most ferrets here are sold already neutered, and most states have native predators (raccoons, coyotes, foxes, and great horned owls) that also kill them if they are out. Sounds like Jersey does not have many loose dogs (which is good)or other potential eaters of ferrets. In rural areas of the states – because of raccoons, coyotes stray dogs etc – people predator proof their chicken/animal coops. Since Jersey is an island, perhaps ferret importing/breeding should be controlled (have to have a permit – like some US states) and also require that the inside of the ear be tattooed so that the breeder can be identified (commercial breeders here do that). Dumping unwanted domestic animals over here is illegal, if it isn’t in Jersey perhaps posting a reward so that people who dump their ferrets get a hefty fine might be an incentive to get folks to turn those people in. However, in the end we say here “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. We (who have birds outside in aviaries) use welded wire mesh or another product less durable but cheaper called hardware cloth, and we line the underside of any outside coops or cages. That keeps the raccoons, skunks, opossums, rats, foxes (and rattlesnakes)out. In Jersey, if the chickens are protected, the dumped/feral ferrets can then be live trapped and perhaps humanely euthanized.

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