| Ella Nayor Animal House column
06/09/06
Sun-Herald.com
Sometimes the biggest comfort can come in the smallest package.
Take Maylin, for example.
In the short month that my friend Aubrey Chisum in Alva, Fla., has had the feisty ferret, she has managed to spread joy.
That's no small order, considering Aubrey and her family are grieving the loss of a fellow friend's son, Allen Richard "Chip" Ellis.
The 18-year-old was murdered in an attempted carjacking in his Midlothian Va., hometown at the end of May.
So it was a pleasant surprise on Sunday evening when families and friends gathered at the Chisum home to support the grieving family, and Maylin began working her magic.
Aubrey's younger sisters, Ashley, Heather and Katie, delighted in showing off the light-brown critter.
The domestic European ferret is a member of the weasel family. Ferrets are considered to have been domesticated before the cat, most likely by the Egyptians. The first ferrets came to the United States more than 300 years ago on ships, according to the Web site ferretcentral.org. They were used for rodent control.
Female ferrets like Maylin are called jills and are half the size of the males. They are playful and need a high-protein diet.
During the get-together, Maylin scampered in and out of drawers and up and down the willing shoulders and arms of the guests. Katie, 8, flashed a wide, toothy grin at folks as her tiny fingers clutched the little tube-shaped pet.
Little by little, person by person, the drawn faces started to smile and even chuckle while a creature that weighed less than a pound and offered no answers or counseling skittered over and under furniture.
I couldn't help but pet the musky-smelling animal. She twitched his little pinkish nose at me -- perhaps trying to figure out what kind of critter I am or, more plausibly, trying to detect any morsels of cake left on my fingertips.
The bottom line is that it took one of God's littlest creatures to bring some comfort and diversion to the hurting folks. Animals seem to have a way of putting life in perspective and reminding us that we are not forgotten, even in our darkest hours.
So don't forget to lavish all the love and care you can on your furry friends -- you never know when they are going to help us.
You can e-mail Ella Nayor at
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