11002-22113 Feral ferret (Mustela putorius furo) female with seven newborn young in den. Adult female ferrets are only half the weight of males. This great size difference in the sexes has led to great gender differences in diet: male ferrets prey more on rabbits, females more on rats. In Northland, following the collapse of a struggling ferret fur-farming industry, many farmers went bankrupt and simply released their animals into the wild which has resulted in a dramatic decrease in kiwi in Northland. Ferrets are one of only two predators (the other being dogs), capable of killing adult kiwi *
DSC_8566 Feral ferret (Mustela putorius furo) a light sable coloured male with predated harrier. Other native birds recorded as being killed on the nest by ferrets, include rarities such as white-flippered, and little blue penguins around our coasts, black stilts in the Mackenzie Country, and royal albatross chicks at Taiaroa Head. Otago Peninsula *
DSC_0325 Feral ferret (Mustela putorius furo) a large number of rare native bird species (including kiwi), fall prey to feral ferrets in New Zealand every year and so it is illegal to keep ferrets here. DoC license one or two individuals to hold neutered ferrets for conservation purposes, such as the small, slim domesticated albino ferret shown here. Owner Billy Barton uses this animal, to keep rabbit numbers down in DoC's Cromwell Chafer Reserve. Cromwell *
