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Ferreting
Rabbiting
For hundreds of years, the main use of ferrets was for hunting, or ferreting.
With their long, lean build and curious nature, ferrets are very well equipped
for getting down holes and chasing rodents and rabbits out of their burrows.
Caesar Augustus sent ferrets (named "viverrae" by Plinius) to the Balearic
Islands to control the rabbit plagues in 6 BC.They are still used for hunting in
some countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, where rabbits are
considered a plague species. However, the practice is illegal in several
countries, where it is feared that ferreting could unbalance the ecology.
In England, in 1390, a law was enacted restricting the use of ferrets for
hunting to those of substantial means:
“ ...it is ordained that no manner of layman which hath not lands to the value
of forty shillings a year (the equivalent of about ￡1,000 in today's money )
shall from henceforth keep any greyhound or other dog to hunt, nor shall he use
ferrets, nets, heys, harepipes nor cords, nor other engines for to take or
destroy deer, hares, nor conies, nor other gentlemen's game, under pain of
twelve months' imprisonment. ”
Ferrets were first introduced into the New World in the 17th century, and were
used extensively from 1860 until the start of World War II to protect grain
stores in the American West.
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