Ferret fans gather at fairgrounds

Ferret fanciers will go to great lengths – and great distances – to show off their furry friends.

So no one at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds was at all surprised that first place in one of the Invitational Class competitions of the Inland Northwest Ferret Association’s regional show went to Zapata and his owner, Linda Gurule, of Farmington, N.M.

There are few ferret shows in New Mexico, Gurule said as she brushed one of Zapata’s offspring, Wolfman Jack, and waited for the results of the judging.

She got her first of the long, slinky mammals about 11 years ago; now she has 15.

There are no ferret shows in Denver, said her friend Jennifer Robertson, a ferret owner from the Mile High City, who was helping tend to Zapata.

“They’re primarily back East,” Gurule said.

Cindy Sapone, chairwoman of the Inland Northwest Ferret Association, agreed. On the East Coast, she said, ferret fanciers can attend a show about every two weeks. The INFA has two shows a year.

Saturday it drew about 100 entrants, most from Eastern Washington and North Idaho, but some from Seattle and Oregon and a few from even farther away, like Gurule.

One reason for the shortage of shows in the West is that keeping a ferret as a pet is illegal in the region’s largest state, California. Wildlife officials in that state are worried about pet ferrets escaping and harming native animals.

Ferret fanciers are trying to change the policy, which they believe is misguided.

So far they haven’t succeeded. When a bill to legalize pet ownership of ferrets passed the Legislature in 2004, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – who once co-starred with a ferret in the movie “Kindergarten Cop” – vetoed it.

At Saturday’s show, the animals competed in a range of classifications for ribbons and trophies. A ferret show is more cat show than dog show. There is no trotting around a ring on a leash, at the heel of one’s owner; the pets are judged on their coats, the symmetry of their eyes, shape of their heads, cleanliness of teeth and personality.

They should be alert for the judge, but not squirm, which can result in points deducted, or bite, which results in disqualification, Sapone said.

While waiting for results of competition in the different classifications, owners browsed tables of ferret paraphernalia, including fabric hammocks for them to sleep in, photos and toys.

Susan Nichols, of Spokane, was at the show with two ferrets of her own and 11 from the Ferret Haven shelter in Shadle Park.

Ferret fans started the shelter a few years ago when they discovered that ferrets were frequently euthanized as soon as they arrived at dog and cat shelters because they were considered wild animals, she said.

Part of the proceeds from the show went to help support the shelter in Spokane and another across the border, Ferret Rescue of North Idaho.

“They tend to be pretty mischievous,” Nichols said. “They get into anything and everything. The will steal anything that is not nailed down.”