"children's prison"

And it's the use of ferrets that's causing an issue.

What a time to be alive.

First big issue is that this facility has rats in the first place. That should probably be the primary focus of this article, that's totally unacceptable.

But moving beyond that.

It's insane that they're using therapy animals for this purpose. If these were two separate programs and they were using dedicated rat catching ferrets, I could get that. That's what ferrets do, and it sure beats scattering poison around. But those ferrets are also potentially being exposed to diseases and parasites and such from the rats and so they shouldn't be used as therapy animals to make sure that they're not spread to the children.

I have no experience with ferrets personally, but it also seems to me like you probably don't want the animals you're training to chase/bite/kill rodents to be the same ones you're using to soothe kids with trauma and such.

As far as children being involved in and witnessing ferrets being used for pest control, I think that's a bit of a mixed bag depending on the kids.

At the end of the day, some animals eat and kill other animals. Pretty much everyone knows that from a pretty young age, how many children's cartoon and nursery rhymes and such are about cats chasing/eating mice after all?

Now actually witnessing that can absolutely be distressing for a lot of people who aren't used to it.

But on the flip side, I do think that introducing children to that, if done properly, can often be beneficial to them, give them a better understanding of life/death, the food chain, responsibility etc.

Not that it sounds like they were doing this in an appropriate fashion. And of course if we're dealing with children with various kinds of trauma, that topic needs to be broached even more delicately.

Isn't it better to use natural methods of killing rats? I thought ferrets were natural enemies of rats and thus the perfect way to get rid of them. No poison leeching into the ground or killing things like birds. It's like using goats instead of lawnmowers.

That is certainly a sentence

I’m not against the idea of therapy ferrets as, they are extremely snuggly and friendly animals.

The problem is that they’re very high maintenance and not incredibly sanitary pets. The problem is that the types of people who are in need of therapy. Animals are not always in the position to be able to responsibly care for a ferret, especially in the long-term.

In this type of situation, a cat is usually a better option. They’re more independent, far more sanitary, and tend to live almost twice as long.

Replace ferret with kitten, and you can see your own speciesism

According to a POA complaint sent to Mark Scott, the institute's governor, "a rat was cornered and killed within a staff office using domesticated ferrets. This raises significant concerns in relation to animal welfare, health and safety, infection control, and professional conduct."

"It is particularly concerning that a young individual responsible for the ferrets was present and witnessed the incident. Exposure to such an event is inappropriate and potentially distressing, and warrants review"

Rather than destroy caught rats by approved pest control methods, a manager advised "stomping on them or throwing them against walls", the union's complaint said.

Ughhh, what the hell is wrong with people?!

First, how the hell do we still have children's prison??

Second, not humane to the rats or ferrets.

Third, making the children watch their therapy animal produce/receive gore, wtf? Hey kid, remember Rikki Tikki severing that rat's jugular? That's your only comfort in here!

Fourth, who allows their therapy animals to potentially get injured or spread disease? Are these animals not there for calmness, not to be hardening their wild instincts?

Holy hell, these people can't handle animals, let alone children with issues that need real help and compassion. 😡