down the ferret hole

We had a new experience last weekend - a midnight visit from a ferret. Well, we never actually saw the ferret, but we think it was a ferret. I was watching TV in the bedroom and Ken was already asleep. I had the TV volume down low because I was watching Saw 2, 3 or 54 and there was alot of screaming (I actually saw Saw 1, but apparently more were to follow). I really wasn't watching it intently - I was just trying to fall asleep. We only have a movie channel and CNN in English on the bedroom TV, so I was limited in my selection (trying to explain my movie choice!).

Back to the ferret. I heard a noise downstairs, so I turned the volume off completely. Listening for awhile longer, I heard it again. It sounded like a plastic trash bag rustling along with a little bit of banging. I woke Ken up and we listened some more. We finally got up and ventured downstairs. The storage room is at the bottom of the stairs, so we armed ourselves with a broom and a 3-iron (a golf club - Ken's weapon of choice). After turning on all the lights, opening every cabinet in the kitchen, and yelling "off with her head" (not really, but it kind of went with the title of the post!), we relaxed somewhat. Ken started taking the golf club and sweeping it under the two sofas we have. Underneath one of them came a plastic bag with a hard piece of bread in it. What I find humorous at this time is the fact that we really didn't think too much of this. I kept asking how in the world the bread got there. Either Ken was too tired (he had been up since 5 a.m. and had also played golf that day) or he didn't want to panic me, so he just kept saying "I don't know". For some dumb reason, I thought that maybe one of us had left the bread on the couch. I guess I was tired too....!

We headed back up to bed. Ken instantly fell back asleep and I was just dozing off when I heard the noises again. I woke him up again. We both listened for awhile. Ken said, "Do you think we should go down?" I said, "Let's just listen for a moment longer." I was actually hoping that I would stay in bed and he would go down. No such luck - I could tell by his breathing that he was back asleep in seconds.
I guess I dozed off shortly too - because I woke up to the noise again. ONCE AGAIN, I woke Ken up and we went downstairs and repeated the previous downstairs scenario. Except this time, we opened the cabinet above the stove that houses the equipment for the exhaust fan. The foil tube that was supposed to be attached to the wall was not attached to the wall.

There was a hole in the wall. Ken took a towel and stuffed it into the hole. Thinking all was well, we closed the kitchen door and then closed the bedroom door for good measure.

The next thing I know, it is 6 in the morning and Ken wakes me up to tell me that something had urinated and pooped in our kitchen. I won't go into detail, but it was obvious it wasn't a mouse or rat by the droppings. Maybe the size of a small cat or dog. He also added that whenever I decided to get up, WE would go into the kitchen and trap the animal. I promptly told him I wasn't getting up right now (thinking he would take care of it by the time I got up?). He said he needed some coffee and was going to the office to get some (remember, we live in small town Korea, no Starbucks or convenience stores with carafes of coffee).

When he returned, he said that we needed to go into the kitchen and close the door after us to trap it. And I said no. Long story short (sorry - it already is a long story), a neighbor came over to help Ken. After much searching (more bread wrappers under the other couch), they came to the conclusion that the animal had gone back through the hole (the towel was shredded). Ken then affixed a plastic plate over the hole.
We decided just to not use the exhaust fan and have the management fix it because we felt that this critter would just get in again. Why do we think it was a ferret? Two other residents of the rowhouses have had incidents with them in their houses, so we thought it was probably the same. Ken was disappointed he wasn't able to trap it. He said they are pretty animals. After looking them up, I decided that they looked too much like the rat and possum persuasion for me. I couldn't believe all the websites that sold ferret toys and clothes. Even youtube videos. Check this one out - if he could do this, one could easily drag bread wrappers under the sofa.


We really haven't seen too much wildlife (or animals of any kind) on the island. We have seen a couple of pheasants around our place and an occasional squirrel in the hillside. You might see a cow in a field rarely, but see black goats in fields often.




Yesterday, I came across a group of escapees on the road.



Hopefully, they got back home in one piece.