It's a Ferret Life

Aficionados converge at local Ferret Festival

By KATHLEEN D. BAILEY
Special to the Union Leader
Monday, Jun. 23, 2008

Londonderry – Sue Kern of Brentwood can't say enough about her stroller for small animals.

"It's the greatest thing in the world," she said, admiring one at Saturday's Ferret Festival in Londonderry. "It really brought Frosty around. Now he lies at the door, waiting to go out."

Ferret fanciers from as far north as Berlin and as close as Manchester converged at the Lions Hall for the 13th annual Ferret Festival on Saturday. They browsed at vendor stands, put their animals through paces in several competitions, admired each others' pets, and looked over adoptable ferrets. It's the least they can do, they say, for a misunderstood animal that brings them joy.

Kern's Frosty is a rescue ferret, one of the many she takes in and rehabilitates at her 4 Little Paws shelter. He needed abdominal surgery, was in intensive care for 24 hours, and in recovery for six months. But he was listless and depressed until Kern found out he liked riding in a stroller.

Alice West of Haverhill, Mass., pushed her seven ferrets in a stroller. Some are rescues, some gifts from friends, some bought at pet stores.

"I like them, they bring me joy," she said, leaning over to murmur to her ferrets. Each one wore a tiny halter so they could be attached to a leash.

Sara Whiting of Manchester watched several ferrets play or nap in a fenced-off area. They have a special toy -- a pink stuffed octopus with openings at the end of each long arm.

"They love to tunnel," she said, watching one poke its head out of the cloth arm. "They're like hyperactive kittens."

At first she didn't care for ferrets, Kern admitted. She only allowed them in her house because her son owned them.

"Then I saw Roscoe pull down our Christmas tree," she said with a smile. "It was hysterical!"

She evolved first into an owner, then a rescuer, and finally an advocate. She recently combined her operation with Kym Philibotte of Manchester, president of the New Hampshire Ferret Owners Connection.

Ferrets are a financial risk, Kern said. It costs $200 a year to license a shelter, and medical care could go as high as $3,600 per ferret.

But they're worth it, according to Kern. "No matter how bad a day you're having, they make it good," she said.

Ferrets competed Saturday for recognition in several events, including knocking over a flower pot filled with rice and being the first to tunnel through industrial tubing.

Dylan Montoya, 12, of Weare, was the youngest "handler" and beamed when his ferret, Sly, won third place in the flower pot challenge.

Vendors hawked food dishes, ferret picture frames, tiles, magnets and toys. Many items carried the word "Dook," a special byword for ferrets and their owners.

"It's the international word for what ferrets say," said Stephanie Mudgett of Freedom. "It's the sound they make, kind of like a chicken clucking. Ferret owners see that word, and they know."

A book on another vendor's table bore the title, "The Joy of Dooking."

Mudgett is closing the ferret shelter she ran in Berlin. But she'll keep her own ferrets as pets.

"I like their philosophy of life," she said. "You eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired, explore everything like it's brand new, dance when you're happy, and never hold a grudge."

For more information or to adopt a ferret, call Kern at 778-0172.