Frogs

by Patrick Faas
(Holland)

Hurray, Bea Bunzing, my new ferret swam! She swam quite unlike any swimming ferrets on YouTube.

Bea Bunzing (“bunzing” is Dutch for “polecat” and Beatrix is the Dutch queen), did not swim in a panic to get out of the water. Bea swam slowly, with composure and dignity, keeping her fur dry! Well, almost dry, only her underside was wet, but most of her seems to float above water, nearly like a duck. No need for towels.

Since my previous ferret was quite afraid of water, I did my best to educate Bea Bunzing in a more Dutch fashion, taking her outside to play, only when it was raining, and exposing my naked feet to her, only under the shower. In the past week, she has helped me extend the garden pond and she so enjoys digging that she now prefers pond work to any other “game”.

And tada!

When the pond light went in tonight, she calmly swam towards it to check it out. I was very proud her. A ferret without fear of water. Now she truly deserved her name “bunzing” (polecat). She made a little dance herself, dried herself on a rosemary bush, went back into the water and the next thing I am not quite sure of, because it was dark.

I fear she may have caught a little frog. Frogs normally escape by jumping into the pond, but now, to the frog’s utter surprise, Bea approached from the water and she managed to grab one. I admit, I partly got frogs in the hope of enticing a ferret into water, having read that Dutch & French polecats swim and hunt frogs, but I am a great frog lover and now only three frogs or so live in the pond, I don’t want them eaten by Her Majesty.

She swam without the need for frogs, however, so I am proud of her. If she ate one froglet, we should forgive her this time. Possibly the frog escaped, anyway. I saw some hopping and also for Bea it was dark (she did eat something, but that doesn’t say a whole lot).

I’ll get more tadpoles next year. Her Majesty fully approves of an even larger pond to accommodate for them.