Wendy Brett with the ferret as the search for its owners continues

A MYSTERY ferret was found strolling down a Gospel Oak street on Easter Sunday.

Bob Pettie, who works for council contractors Veolia, explained how he had come across the animal in Vicar’s Road.

“It was a quiet Sunday morning and I’d gone to move my car from around the back of the flats,” he said. “I spotted him walking along the pavement.”

Ferrets are creatures which may usually be associated with flat caps and the county of Yorkshire, but Mr Pettie, an animal lover who has three Jack Russells and has kept many snakes, knew exactly what he had seen.

He said: “My sister-in-law keeps polecats and I’ve had all sorts of animals, so it didn’t faze me. I carried on walking and got in front of it and he spotted me. It lay flat and so I went over to pick him up. It was clearly tame and clearly someone’s pet.”

He trawled the neighbourhood, looking for lost ferret posters but had no joy, so he took it to a vet in Belsize Park.

With no owner yet to appear, it has been sent to a sanctuary until it can be hopefully returned home.
Essex Ferret Welfare Society founder Wendy Brett told the New Journal that ferrets no longer live in the wild – so if anyone spots one out and about, it will be a missing pet.

Mrs Brett, who founded the society in 1986, added that un-neutered ferrets would go to great lengths to find a friend to cavort with.

She said: “At this time of year, male ferrets are keen to find mates and are more likely to go for a wander in search of another ferret. It means pets are likely to slip out if they can.”

The male ferret was found in good condition

The ferret has been confirmed as male and said to be in a very good condition, although already tried to go another walkabout while at the sanctuary in Ongar.

Mrs Brett said: “He has a lovely cream and ginger coat, he’s been well cared for, he is eating well and is perfectly happy and healthy.”

She added that she had named him Jones, explaining: “We thought of Sigourney Weaver’s ginger tomcat called Jones in Alien. The cat survives – and our Jonesy is a survivor, too.”

Jones has not got a chip so the owner cannot currently be traced, added Mrs Brett.

She said: “Sadly some ferrets are dumped because the owner decides they do not like the smell, or they are worried about the cost of looking after them.”

Jones is facing a vasectomy if he is not claimed, to allow him to continue to enjoy female ferrets’ company without adding extra offspring.

The sanctuary is already looking after 70 ferrets.

Mrs Brett said: “They are predators, but there is a lot of misinformation. They are great fun,and they love to interact and explore.”