Ferrets are Keeping me Alive
Herald Sun – 21 May 2012
LUNG transplant hopeful Coen Ashton credits ferrets for helping keep him alive.
The teen’s pets provide the entertainment and love he needs while he waits for life-saving surgery at The Alfred’s paediatric lung transplant unit.
The animals are banned in his home state of Queensland but he wanted one watching their antics on YouTube.
“They have a reputation for being smelly but I walk mine into the shower with me once a week and give her a shampoo and she is very clean.”
A Victorian university student is conducting Australia’s first national survey to see if the animals are healthy and happy.
Charles Sturt University bachelor of animal science student Sarah Talbot will examine the links between housing, handling, enrichment, fearfulness and behaviour to identify the animals’ requirements.
The survey could lead to guidelines for ferret owners.