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The owner of 85 ferrets said she had not been on holiday for 16 years |
August 12, 2010
BBC
The East Midlands' only purpose-built ferret hotel is fully booked in August.
Along with the family's own 85, Clare Goddard will be looking after another 50 ferrets in the back garden of her home in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire.
The hotel started ten years ago when she let a friend's ferret board while he was on holiday. Since then the hotel has had over 800 guests.
Ms Goddard said: "It's just a bit of fun, there's no real financial reward in the business."
The ferrets eat through £250 of food every month.
The hotel is a real family affair involving Clare, her 73-year-old grandmother and her two nephews.
Between them it takes three hours a day to clean out all the cages.
Asked why the obsession with ferrets, Clare said it was all a mistake.
She used to have hamsters but when they died her mother said she couldn't have any more pets in the house.
So Clare asked for a ferret thinking she could get her mother to change her mind about the hamsters. Her plan backfired.
Since then she said she has become addicted to the domestic mammals.
"Every single one of them is an individual. They are comical and want loving and playing with but unlike a dog you don't have to take them for walks.
"You can play with them unlike any other animal."
101 ferrets
Commenting on her own pets, the care support worker said it was not so strange to have so many.
"It's not that unusual. I have a friend who has 101 ferrets."
However, the hotel proprietor admitted that there are drawbacks.
She said: "We can't go on holiday. I can't remember my last holiday. I've definitely not had one for the last 16 years." |
