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Momy!
MlZad

Momy! (Mustela putorius)

My father holding a wild Polecat. At first, we thought that our dog was chasing a cat arround our neighbour's house (3 laps). When he stopped running and started barking, I decided to go see where the cat was. It wasn't a cat. I immediately called my dad, shouting "...he's barking at SOMETHING, maybe a weasel, I don't know what..."
Our dog wasn't going to kill him, he was just barking, probably more scared of the polecat than the other way arround. When we caught him, he was visibly in shock, we were able to hold him like a cat. Some 20 min later, he became agro. First he bit me, then my father (he didn't bite through the gloves). We managed to then transfer him into a bucket with a lid and took him some 200 m away to release him. This is one of our "most amazing moments".
(P.S.- I held him also, but those pictures aren't that sharp, because he started to move arround a bit.)
DO NOT TRY TO HOLD/CATCH THESE. WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WE WERE DOING. wE WERE IN LUCK THAT HE WAS IN "SHOCK", SO HE DIDN'T FOCUS ON US AT FIRST. tHEY CAN ALSO CARRY RABIES.
Isn't he a little, sorry- BIG beauty?
Habitat
fields, meadows, near humans (chicken coops)...
Location
Vugrovec, near Zagreb, Croatia
Date taken
18.07.2005.
Scientific name
Mustela putorius
Equipment used
Olympus C740UZ
Supporter
That's quite an adventure you all had and you are very, very lucky that no skin was broken. I'm sure the poor animal is quite happy he was found by compassionate nature lovers. Actually, that's kind of redundant ;)
 
Thanks. I think we saw him again, this year. Our dog chased one up a tree, but I can't be sure that it's the same polecat. I also came accross a mother with a young one, they were playing and chasing about 5 m from me. I tried to get closer, but the vegetation was too thick. Through the whole 2 min they never reacted to my presence, even though I wasn't quiet or still. Sadly, I didn't have a camera with me (luckily my dog wasn't with me as well, so he didn't chase them off).
 

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Category
Wild Mammals
Added by
MlZad
Date added
View count
138
Comment count
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