Editing Ferret (section)

===Ferreting===
{{Main|Rabbiting}}
[[File:Ratting ferret 2.png|thumb|right|Muzzled ferret flushing a rat, as illustrated in Harding's ''Ferret Facts and Fancies'' (1915)]]
For millennia, the main use of ferrets was for hunting, or "ferreting". With their long, lean build and inquisitive nature, ferrets are very well equipped for getting down holes and chasing rodents, rabbits and moles out of their burrows. The Roman historians [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] and [[Strabo]] record that [[Caesar Augustus]] sent "{{lang|la|viverrae}}" from [[Roman Libya|Libya]] to the [[Balearic Islands]] to control rabbit plagues there in 6&nbsp;BC; it is speculated that "{{lang|la|viverrae}}" could refer to ferrets, [[mongoose]]s, or polecats.<ref name="Thomson"/><ref>Plinius the Elder, Natural History, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/8*.html#218 8 lxxxi 218] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105233033/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/8%2A.html#218 |date=2022-01-05 }} (in Latin)</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Natural History, Book VIII |last=Pliny the Elder |author-link=Pliny the Elder |others=[[Philemon Holland]] (trans) |year=1601 |chapter-url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/pliny8.html |access-date=19 April 2011 |chapter=LV. Of Hares and Connies. |title-link=Natural History (Pliny) |archive-date=5 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105232948/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/holland/pliny8.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In England, in 1390, a law was enacted restricting the use of ferrets for hunting to the relatively wealthy:
{{blockquote|it is ordained that no manner of layman which hath not lands to the value of forty shillings a year shall from henceforth keep any greyhound or other dog to hunt, nor shall he use ferrets, nets, heys, harepipes nor cords, nor other engines for to take or destroy deer, hares, nor conies, nor other gentlemen's game, under pain of twelve months' imprisonment.<ref name="Mackay1891">{{cite book |editor-last=Mackay |editor-first=Thomas |title=Plea for Liberty |url=https://archive.org/details/pleaforliberty00mack |year=1891 |publisher=D. Appleton and Co}}</ref>}}<!-- Double-check the source—Thomson claims this reference spelled it "fyrets").-->

Ferrets were first introduced into the American continents in the 17th century, and were used extensively from 1860 until the start of [[World War II]] to protect grain stores in the American West from rodents. They are still used for hunting in some countries, including the United Kingdom, where rabbits are considered a [[Pest (organism)|pest]] by farmers.<ref>{{cite web|title=In Mystery, Ferret Thefts Sweep Southern England|url=https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304361604579290013495981126|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=2017-03-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321170935/https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304361604579290013495981126|archive-date=2017-03-21|url-status=dead}}</ref> The practice is illegal in several countries where it is feared that ferrets could unbalance the ecology. In 2009 in Finland, where ferreting was previously unknown, the city of Helsinki began to use ferrets to restrict the city's rabbit population to a manageable level. Ferreting was chosen because in populated areas it is considered to be safer and less ecologically damaging than shooting the rabbits.