Christine pushed the orange Alert us button to denounce the lack of legal framework around the adoption of ferrets in Belgium. This little pet is more and more fashionable among young people but is not so easy to raise and tame. For this owner of a refuge for ferrets, their marketing remains problematic and not without risk. It therefore calls for appropriate legislation to be put in place.
“The ferret: the big one forgotten in Belgian legislation. While this animal is very popular with young people, there are no regulations in terms of breeding”writes Christine via the orange Alert us button.
This ferret enthusiast has been running a refuge dedicated to them for more than 20 years near Rebecq, in Walloon Brabant. She fights daily for the protection of these small four-legged animals which, according to her, are marketed without any regulation. “Many individuals sell them like that, very small, without any explanation. They are sold through social networks and are sold in car parks without any guarantee of good health”she laments.
Once they get mature, people don’t keep them
If on the surface, the ferret seems calm and sleepy, he is actually a real ball of energy that requires a lot of attention and loves to play and exercise. “Minimum 2 hours a day, even 3 or 4 hours”, informs Christine. For adopters, this can quickly become a brake. “Once they become mature they have to be sterilized but people don’t keep them. Firstly because the behavior changes, the smell becomes unmanageable and they don’t want to take that money out anymore anyway to operate on them because it still costs the same as sterilization for cats”, she points out. For a male, it is indeed around 90 euros for the operation, but for a female, it can go up to 150 euros.
Results ? “We are collecting ‘unsold items’ and complaints from individuals who have purchased via social networks. Since the beginning of July, the shelter has been constantly full and has around forty ferrets to feed and care for”continues Christine, of the National League for the Protection of Ferrets.
For this shelter manager, the problem could however be resolved in three points: requiring chip identification, requiring sterilization and prohibiting clandestine breeding and sale on social networks.
Social networks full of scams
A ferret can be sold for more than 300 euros via social networks. A practice deemed illegal for our interlocutor who points to the lack of legal framework in Belgium for the detention of such a pet. “For dogs, it is mandatory to have them microchipped and register them in the name of an owner, this is not an obligation for ferrets. We do it well for dogs and cats so why not for ferrets since it’s still the third pet?she wonders.
And through social networks, bad experiences have happened so quickly when you come across people who reproduce for the sole purpose of making money. Sabrina, a ferret owner, unfortunately paid the price a few years ago. “It was supposedly a ferret but in fact it was a ferretremembers this resident of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve. It is a mix between a ferret and a skunk but it was sold to me as a ferret. I had to part with it because it was quite dangerous compared to other ferrets I had at the time. She was very dominant, very aggressive to the human.”
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Sabrina did not hesitate to denounce this scam to prevent other people from being fooled. And it assures us today that it only passes through associations. This is what she did to adopt her little Booba, 3 years old. “In association, they are socialized with their congeners, they are educated in cleanliness, sterilized, chipped… At least the animal is in order and we are sure”she says.
“You have to be very responsible to have a ferret and above all to be well informedshe continues. When the animal does not know, it can bite. It is, for example, not at all a suitable gift for children. I love the ferret and I learned to discover it by learning a lot on the Internet. And when I felt ready, I started.”
Booba needs to play several hours a day. He eats specialized croquettes and uses an adapted litter. Count about forty euros per month. Adoption, on the other hand, is done under agreement. For a young ferret, you have to pay 370 euros all costs included.
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It is for all these reasons that our interlocutors believe that the adoption of these small mammals should be more regulated. We put the question to the office of Céline Tellier, Walloon Minister in charge of Animal Welfare, who assures us that the legislation concerning the conditions for breeding and marketing pets “Beware of ferrets.”
“The general conditions apply to ferrets and specific provisions are also provided, in particular concerning the minimum dimensions for cages”, we are told. However, when you read this Royal Decree of April 7, 2007, it does not really mention ferrets, except in fact to specify the minimum size of their cage.
However, the minister’s office indicates that “This Decree of the Walloon Government is currently being revised. The objective is to improve the conditions for raising and marketing animals, including pets. The third reading of the text is scheduled for the end of the year.”