THEY’RE small, cute and fluffy, and are surprisingly good at comforting people.
Tasmanian Nicole Flint says ferrets can make great service animals for people with mental and cognitive illnesses, and is on a mission to prove ferrets are a good alternative to other animals.
“Assistance and service dogs are the main animal for a lot of people but they’re not a solution for everyone,” said Nicole, from Ulverstone. “Ferrets are compact, small and intelligent.”
Nicole first saw the potential for ferrets in 2006 when she took over the rescue shelter Van Deman Ferrets Tasmania.
After noticing how helpful her own service ferret, Deamon, had been helping to manage her post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, Nicole decided she wanted to help others in the same way.
“I thought if it works for me then I’m going to try this for other people,” she said.
So the pair began visiting residents at Mt St Vincent Nursing Home in Ulverstone.
“Deamon would climb up and let residents pat him,” she said.
“There was one male patient who hadn’t spoken for 20 years because of dementia. He took an interest in Deamon and started talking to him.
“He told Deamon all about the war and his life. It was the first time the nurses had ever heard him speak!”
From there Nicole started training other ferrets. Her clients have ranged from young children with autism to older people unable to commit to larger animals.
“I have a few clients who are elderly and do have some trouble walking,” Nicole said.
“They have a ferret now and say their life has meaning again. They say they have someone who cares for them and they have someone to care for. It really goes both ways.”
All Van Deman’s service ferrets are registered with America’s National Animal Service Registry because Australian bodies don’t recognise ferrets as service animals.
This registration means the ferrets have had to satisfy a range of criteria, including training and tests to prove they can serve their owner in distracting environments.
“There’s a lot of desensitisation,” Nicole said of the training.
“We take them to the Christmas parade, for example, where there’s a lot of commotion. They’ve got to be able to ignore all of that and concentrate solely on their handler.”
But two burning questions remain: do ferrets smell and do they bite?
“The answer is yes,” Nicole said laughing. These are the first two questions ferret owners are always asked. “But if you keep their cages clean, get them desexed and train them not to bite, it’s not an issue. It’s the same as any other animal!”
Van Deman Ferrets Tasmania takes in the majority of the state’s abandoned ferrets. Those with potential are trained as service animals while others are rehomed as loving pets.
- Details, 0458-209-180.
