A pair of grey nomads are apparently drawing plenty of attention as they travel Australia … with six ferrets!
While dogs, cats, and even budgies are ‘relatively’ common Big Lap travelling companions, ferrets still raise the eyebrows of fellow nomads … and caravan parks operators.
Graham Wilson and Margaret Hilton, who are originally from Britain, have been travelling Australia for the past seven years and have stopped at van parks all over the country.
The couple proudly own six ferrets … named Ziggy, Zippy, Banjo, Archie, Jellybean and Tickety-Boo.
“A lot of people hate them because they think they’re nasty, smelly, bitey creatures, but they’re really clean, gentle things,” Mr Wilson told the Ballarat Courier. “We started out with two white ferrets and we’ve just collected them as we go along … we’re the grey nomads, we’re always on the move.”
Mr Wilson said most of his ferrets were re-homed after having lived as working ferrets, or simply being abandoned. One was found wandering the streets of Werribee and two were born to ferrets already in the care of foster homes. The Courier reports that one ferret was even found by the couple when they were out for a walk.
Have you met the ferret-loving nomads on your travels? What is the most unusual travelling pet you have come across? Comment below.
I would love to know what total idiot allowed Ferrets into Australia.
Bad enough cats and other introduced species. Ferrets in the wild are top line predators.
Have a wild population of ferrets and yet more native species will be decimated.
By the way I am an animal lover and a ex-pat Pom. I do not agree with introducing predators into a different country.
Keeping of Ferrets in Australia has many restrictions including
Illegal in Queensland and NT where they are classed as a class 1 pest and must be destroyed.
ACT and Victoria require a license
Completely irresponsible for these people to carry this pest around our country and I would suggest that the owners of this site would also be irresponsible if they did not inform the owners
I agree with Trevor and Lewis. Just recently the BBC on line ran a story about the world’s biggest camel herd… and it’s right here in Oz…. 700,000 of the buggers.
Live n let live I say. It’s a free country. I bet they are far more conscious of their, likely caged, ferrets than some folk with nasty dogs n feral kids! And the list goes on 😉
Yes live n let live , we have 5 adorable Ferrets ,what a gift n what pleasure they provide us, They also sleep about 18 hrs a day great pets, all desexed. People are just so ignorant n make so many negative judgements , they should do their homework before opening their big mouths,Ferrets r not “feral” n cannot survive in the wild for more than a few days, no known colonies have EVER been found in Australia.
Sitting around the fire one night recently in Creswick Vic and couldn’t believe what we were seeing,these ferrets going for a night walk on their leads.
All animals become feral if they are ‘dumped’ and left to fend for themselves. This is a human failing, not animal. Ferrets are wonderful pets, like all other pets, they respond to the treatment they receive.