Fred, George, Arthur and Ivy

Domestic ferrets are a domestic form of the Polecat which have been trained over several centuries to help humans catch rats and rabbits.

One efficient way of catching rabbits is to put nets over all the holes in a rabbit warren and then introduce a ferret to one hole. Usually only the female rabbits, the 'does', will run out into the nets, the males, 'bucks', can turn their back on a ferret and kick it away.

Sometimes a ferret will kill down a hole, so to avoid the long delay of either waiting for the ferret to emerge, or digging it out, a harness and line are attached to the ferret so that it can be recovered easily.

A female ferret can give birth to 12-20 babies. The female is called a jill, the male a hob and a neutered male a hobble.

Ferrets are part of a meat-eating weasel family of mammals (Mustelidae) which includes stoats, mink, martens and wolverines. Some of these animals have for centuries had highly prized fur because the hairs are hollow and so the fur is very warm.