Ferrets and children

Young children should be supervised when they are with ferrets, as they often think that a ferret is a simple stuffed animal that they can squeeze all they want, without realizing that they are actually choking the animal. The animal often reacts writhing, scratching, or, when it’ is feeling totally hopeless, biting hard.

There needs to be nothing wrong when a child plays with a ferret, provided there is supervision by adults, as in the case of any other animal. Children have to be careful even with domestic ferrets as they can bring out aggression and they may bite hard.

In the UK, ferrets are sometimes used to capture rats and mice that infest houses. These ferrets are hunters of rodents and are known as greyhound ferrets due to their smaller size and ability to move quickly through tight spaces.

Some owners of ferret hunters train their animals to be very aggressive, so a child who has had prior contact with domestic ferrets is at risk when a ferret is a non-domestic pet and responds as with any other animal.