Lost and Found
I know that this is a common story but as it has a happy ending I thought I would write and tell you about it.
" Jumble ", my sons` ferret had gone. During the night he had dug his way out of his court and escaped. We started off with frantic search parties calling and calling up and down the hedgerows but there was no sign of him. The chickens were fine so we guessed he had not gone that way! We took the dog out hoping she would pick up his scent but nothing came of that.
The next move was the phone, calling neighbours in the village and asking if they would look out for him. Then I started to put up posters on the local village notice boards - LOST POLECAT FERRET etc. Again nothing. I even asked our postman to look out for him!
We were all worried for his chances of survival in the wild. As he was a pet and never worked we did not think he would find food for himself out there.
After 3 days I received a call, a lady had seen one of my posters and had found a ferret dead on the road, was it Jumble? I had got to the point of thinking that if it was him at least I would know what had happened to him. Having said that I was relieved to find that it was not Jumble.
I had an other call, the day after he had escaped he had " chased " a lady into her kitchen she though he was a wild animal and shut him outside. Poor Jumble, I expect he was hungry and a bit lonely by this time but this news was 3 days old by now so hunting around her garden was a waste of time.
6 days later I received another call, from our postman! " have you found your ferret?", " No " I said. " Well I think I have, bring a basket and come into the village now ", he said.
The address was 1.5 miles from our house on a small estate - Jumble had been having a serious argument with a cat, the owner of the feline fury Jumble in his greenhouse just as the postman arrived with his letters - what luck! I really think Jumble was pleased to see me I know I was delighted to be able to tell my son that we had found him.
Jumble was very thin, covered in old scratches from a fight with something and over the next few weeks lost all the fur from his tail, developing "rat tail" until his next moult when new fur grew, presumably due to the stress of his ordeal. 2 years on he is fit, well and enjoys the company of a little Jill, all thanks to the postman!
Lindsay