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PART ONE.

Lagooni's story began at about 9pm on August 15th 2001.

A chap phoned me to say he had found a dark ferret in a housing estate in Binley, Coventry. One of our members had lost a
polecat ferret a couple of weeks previous, so I rang him to go and check this ferret out. Steve rang me about an hour later to
say it wasn't his ferret and he had no idea what the creature actually was. He brought the animal here and we set the carrier
on our work surface. One of my dogs just had to jump up and see what was in the carrier, the little animal screamed none
stop. I put a coat over the carrier to calm it and decided to ring the RSPCA to come and identify our"Creature from the black
Lagoon"

An RSPCA inspector came along at about 10.30pm but had already told me when I phoned that if this little animal proved to
be a mink, he would have to destroy it. I was in a panic having maybe condemned an animal to death.

The Inspector said that the creature was nothing like any mink he had been called out to and said he thought she was a
cross breed of some sorts. Phew!

Lagooni was very thin and was covered in ticks and fleas, she also had sores where the ticks had bitten her, quite a sorry
sight.

Steve, our member helped me put a mobile pen up in the conservatory for the night, because she was so obviously not a
ferret I was not going to risk putting her near our ferrets but she was a kit in need of our help.

The following morning I went to see her and she had got out of the pen and was hiding behind the tumble dryer. Now we had
a problem , how was I going to get her back in? Lagooni was a wild animal of sorts so I was very wary about picking her up. I
decided to put some steak in a carrier and hope she would walk in and she did with no hesitation.

My friend's partner worked in conservation and came to see her and while she looked minkish he said he wasn't sure
because of her size.

Anyway, we made a beautiful pen for Lagooni where she has lived happily for nearly 2 years ,she was also spayed at the
beginning of this year.

Lagooni loves my company and will come onto my lap, she takes food from me and calls me when she wants company
with continuous " PEEPS" . Her pen is alarmed and secure for obvious reasons.

We noticed from the onset that she loved water and would submerge herself in her water bowl. I gave her a bigger bowl and
now she has a baby bath. Watching her swim is just wonderful especially when she is on her back with her paws in the air
like an otter. Lagooni loves her floating toys and spends long periods retrieving them from the water when I throw them in.

She will sit nose to nose with Cinders our cat for ages and is not afraid of any of our other cats or dogs. She will also watch
the ferrets playing in the pen next to her with great amusement. We now know that mink are solitary animals so do not
worry that she is on her own.

She is fed on fresh fish, liver, steak or fresh rabbit . After she has eaten she will always bathe to clean herself.

Lagooni is about as big as a jill ferret with a beautiful glossy black coat and pure white markings down her front, WHILE SHE
DOES LOOK LIKE A MINK , WE HAVE NEVER REALLY BEEN SURE TILL NOW.

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PART TWO

On April 14th 2003 two burly policemen came to my door to investigate a complaint made to DEFRA (Department for
Environment Food and Rural Affairs). Someone had reported me for keeping mink.

I allowed the police to search my premises and they were more than a little surprised to find one, spayed, tiny animal that
had never been identified as a mink. They listened to the above story and were even more surprised that she had been here
nearly 2 years. They were just a bit cheesed off with all the fuss and asked me to write to DEFRA and tell my story, which I
did that day.

I received a letter asking if I would agree to a wildlife adviser coming here to identify Lagooni, of course I agreed as I had
nothing to hide. A very nice chap came and although he knew Lagooni was a mink he couldn't get over how small she was
compared to the females he studied on the river banks. He checked her pen to make sure it was secure and that it was built
on concrete so she couldn't dig her way out. He was very satisfied with what he saw and went off to make a report for
DEFRA.

In return I had a nice letter with a form to fill in to apply for a licence to keep LAGOONI.

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT GETTING A MINK FOR A PET AS IT IS AGAINST THE LAW UNLESS YOU HAVE A
LICENCE - THE LICENCE (WAS) Ł185 PER YEAR AND EVEN THOUGH YOU APPLY FOR THIS LICENCE THERE IS NO
GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL BE ISSUED WITH ONE. LAGOONI CAME HERE BY CHANCE TO OUR DELIGHT, BUT
WE WOULD NEVER HAVE CHOSEN TO TRAP ONE AND KEEP IT HERE. IT IS BAD ENOUGH THAT PEOPLE ARE
TRAPPING THE WILD POLECAT ( AN ENDANGERED SPECIES) AND ARE TAKING THEM FROM THEIR ENVIRONMENT
TO BREED WITH FERRETS.WILD LIFE ADVISERS ARE EXTREMELY SAD AND ANGRY TO HEAR THIS GOES ON IN
THIS COUNTRY, AS I AM. LEAVE WILD ANIMALS WHERE THEY BELONG .There is no fee for a licence at this time
Jan.2005.

Well I filled in the form and sent it off and my husband Arthur phoned the lady concerned at DEFRA, who was very nice.

Today, June 21st my licence arrived, so Lagooni can now live a life without fear and with lots of love here, until she dies.

We have been tipped off as to who reported us and we feel very sad for these people who risked this little creature's life. We
know they have animals themselves but shouldn't have the privilege. If we had not agreed to having a licence Lagooni would
have been destroyed and for what ?

Arthur and I would like to thank all our friends who have supported Lagooni in this matter.

To the people who reported us the only thing you achieved was to force us to use Ł185 of the rescues funds that was meant
for the neutering/spaying and medical treatment for the ferrets coming into the rescue.SO YOU HAVE TAKEN FROM THEM
NOT US. But no matter, it just means that Arthur and I and our wonderful team will have to work that little bit harder to raise
more funds and we will.

Unfortunately her mink friend, Shashone aged 2 yrs died in 2006 of a viral disease.

Sadly our lovely little lady had to be PTS on April 14th 2008 suffering from a huge liver tumour aged 7 yrs old.

When Shashone died in 2006 it left a huge hole in our hearts. We also worried that Lagooni may pine for him. Thank goodness she didn't.

On June 13th 2007 I had a call from a lady in Surrey who had a baby mink taken to her . As she couldn't keep him she arranged to meet me in Cheltenham and hand him over
to join our mink.

In the pictures Cheyenne is about 6 weeks old and as strong as a horse. He had a blood test on June 18th to make sure he hadn't got the fatal Aleutians disease that could
be passed on to my mink and the ferrets in the rescue.

The results came back negative so he will be introduced to Lagooni and hopefully live a full and healthy life here at the rescue.

Cheyenne is extremely tame and likes nothing more than a rough and tumble with me. He loves his belly tickled and he loves to be cuddled. He lives indoors with us at the
moment in a large pen with lots of toys to play with. Even at this age he can rip his way through a piece of steak or raw fish easily. Mink have extremely strong jaw bones.

Cheyenne was neutered in December 2007. He still lives indoors with us as neither of my others would accept him. He has a very large two story pen now that has a
swimming pool on the bottom floor. Rest assured this little mink will not be terrorizing the countryside destroying our wildlife. Again I must remind you that you will need a
LICENSE to keep any mink in the UK. THE WILDLIFE LICENSING UNIT IS NOW NATURAL ENGLAND IN BRISTOL NOT DEFRA.

You have read our story about Lagooni and the struggle we had to keep her. But thanks to DEFRA we now have a licence for her, that was
amended on July 31st 2003 to enable us to keep Sebastian our new mink. He was taken to friends of ours,Debbie and Paul Cant, in Suffolk
who run a ferret rescue. Debbie knew straight away that this beautiful creature was not a ferret ( the tail and the webbed feet gave it away) and
informed DEFRA immediately. She also took Seb to the vet where it was confirmed he had a fractured jaw. The vet removed some broken
teeth and said the jaw would heal on it's own,which it has done.They sent a wild life adviser to see Sebastian and confirmed he was a mink
even though his colour was unlike that of the mink you would see on the river bank.Seb is about 16 weeks old in the pictures above and
weighs in at over 3 lbs.Deb and Paul applied for a licence to keep him but were turned down due to not being able to afford the annual fee of
Ł185 However rather than have him put to sleep DEFRA said he could come to me. My hubby Arthur and friend Andy went to Suffolk to pick
the up the boy and Deb and Paul were extremely sad to see him go. Seb is different to Lagooni in as much as he likes humans and ferrets.He
does not like being held even though I do cuddle him much to his disgust.We found him a large albino hob kit,Suma and a sandy kit,Yiska
to play with as it was obvious he needed a friend apart from me.Now they live happily together in a pen that has a bath for Sebastian to swim
in. Due to his problem with his jaw all his meat has to be cut up for him. We feed him minced beef, fresh white fish, liver, steak and he does
try and have a chew on fresh rabbit. Suma and Yiska ,his friends, eat his ferret biscuits and help Sebastian out by nicking some of his meat,
which won't hurt him at all.

We had to make a minor change to the pen we had chosen for Sebastian to create a double door for safety to stop the risk of him escaping.
He now has many visitors and is far from the shy boy that came here in September.

Please note that like Debbie and Paul you don't automatically get a licence because you apply. It is against the law to keep mink without a
licence so don't be tempted to go and trap one with the view of keeping it as a pet. They can be extremely vicious and are destroying masses
of our wildlife. They are not native to the UK hence the licence.