Don’t keep ferrets, warns CapeNature as rise in encounters sparks fears of ecological threat

Keeping ferrets is on the rise and has triggered a warning from CapeNature: if they go feral, these European imports will pose a dire environmental risk to local biodiversity.

The organisation is alarmed that there has been an increase in the incidents of ferrets found, both as pets in homes and running wild. Their import is “highly undesirable” and it says the potential ecological threat of them becoming established outside of captivity cannot be understated. 

Ferrets – mostly banned globally, but not in South Africa – may look like our local mongoose family, but are in fact related to weasels, otters and wolverines. They’re tenacious predators and fearless hunters who will tackle prey much larger than themselves and can pursue it through tunnels and into burrows.

For this reason, they were introduced to New Zealand to control rabbit populations, but with disastrous consequences for the island’s birds, including kiwis. When rabbits were not around, they turned on livestock such as poultry and ducks. In Australia, they had a similar effect on native species. 

Ferrets are tenacious predators. (Image: ChatGPT)