Hungry ferret ends chicks’ show hopes

A SEBASTIAN grandmother and her granddaughters are heartbroken after a ferret attacked and killed their show-breed chickens.Alma Williams said ferret owners should be more responsible after 52 silkies were killed last week.The birds were between six weeks and four months old and included three hens and valuable black and gold silkies.Mrs Williams and granddaughters Katelyn and Emily planned on entering them in the Bendigo show in November.“It’s just heartbreaking,” she said.“When I called the shire, they put them in the same class as guinea pigs and rabbits, but they’re not.“They must be in safe and secure enclosures.”Katelyn, 15, and Emily, 12, have been caring for chickens since they were old enough to walk.“I really enjoy it,” Katelyn said.“Grandma said we could still enter some [in the show] but not as good as the ones we could have entered.”Together they’ve won seven ribbons with their silkies during the last two years.Mrs Williams said she believed the ferret came under a fence and into three enclosed chicken coops.It then killed all inside before taking some of the smaller chicks back to its cage.She said she grew up around ferrets and had no problem with people keeping them as pets as long as owners were responsible.“They make lovely pets,” she said. “But they don’t tell people what they can do.“They need to be kept locked up so this doesn’t happen.”Mrs Williams said she would not be seeking compensation from the ferrets’ owners for the chickens, which were worth about $1500.But she hoped ferret owners would start to look more seriously at locking up their pets.