Breeder Ruined Financially By Fatal Stabbing Of Ferrets Many Blood Lines She Spent Her Life Developing Were Wiped Out

A north Spokane woman who found 87 of her ferrets stabbed to death in her home last week said the loss has wiped her out financially.

The ferrets, which Jean Smith raises and sells, were stabbed while she was away from home Nov. 19. They were kept in a large room attached to her house.

Smith said she left the house about 10 a.m., after feeding half her 139 ferrets. When she returned at 1 p.m., most of the animals were dead and others were dying.

Spokane police have a “person of interest” and intend to pursue a warrant for animal cruelty and first-degree malicious mischief, spokesman Dick Cottam said.

Smith said she believes the culprit is a troubled young man she took into her home on the request of his father, a longtime friend. She has not heard from the young man since the killings, she said.

Each of the dead animals was worth at least $100, said Smith, who calls her business House of Ferrets. Some were worth more than $500.

She lost 15 of her 17 top breeding males, and entire bloodlines that produce rare colorations.

Smith said she normally breaks even on her business and counts on selling about 30 ferrets as Christmas pets. This year, she won’t sell any.

“It’s wiped me out financially,” said Smith, whose ferrets go to homes, not pet shops.

Several ferret experts said Smith is the most reputable breeder in the region. Tracy Kilmer, director of Ferret Rescue of Spokane, said House of Ferrets is the only place she’ll send people who want to buy one of the energetic, 2- to 5-pound animals as a pet.

“Her (blood)lines are almost exclusively cancer-free, which is very, very unusual for ferrets,” Kilmer said.

Smith said the surviving animals are so skittish, she won’t be able to show, sell or breed most of them. She doubts they’ll ever recover emotionally, saying they have long memories “like elephants.”

In the hours after the crime, many of the surviving ferrets were bleeding from their mouths, ears and noses, said Kilmer, whom Smith called for help after finding the animals. Others were bloated and had “huge open wounds,” Kilmer said.

“I’ve seen horrible things, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Kilmer, who used to work at an animal shelter.

Smith called police the next day, after a veterinarian in Spokane and another at Washington State University in Pullman determined the animals had been stabbed. Smith said some were injected with household cleaners, but a WSU veterinarian said toxicology tests were inconclusive.

Smith said she found an equine syringe with a bent needle in the ferret room. It smelled strongly of bleach, she said.

Smith said she’s spent 27 years developing bloodlines that are unique and the deaths are a loss of her life’s work.

She has customers and fans throughout the region.

One customer from Moscow, Idaho, heard about the crime and returned a ferret he purchased from Smith five years ago, along with one of its offspring.

“It’s the only uplifting thing that’s happened through this whole ordeal,” Smith said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo