International ferret rescue drama

Two baby ferrets were today flown to Cyprus to replace an ex-pat's much loved pet, thanks to the efforts of two Warwick University psychology researchers and a Lincolnshire ferret rescue centre.

Dr June McNicholas and Dr Glyn Collis, who have researched the relationship between owners and their pets for more than 10 years, recently published findings showing that ferrets were becoming the pet of choice for today's Bridget Joneses - youngish singletons - and childless couples.

Cyndi Ioannou, a 46-year-old American living in Cyprus, had contacted Julie Stoodley at Sleaford Ferret Rescue when her pet, Giggles, was ill, and was distraught when it died following an operation. She was unable to replace him as there were no other ferrets on the island.

With the Warwick academics, Ms Stoodley hatched a scheme to send a replacement and managed to negotiate a mass of paperwork to send the ferrets on a flight today. There was an extra surprise waiting for Ms Ioannou today as she arrived to collect her new pets, as Julie had flown over secretly to help the six-month-olds settle in.

Ms Stoodley, 40, said she was nervous about the handover but was delighted to have been able to help.

"It is a devastating thing when you lose a pet, but for this lady she couldn't replace this ferret because there just weren't any more.

"I just thought wouldn't it be fantastic if we could help her out and one thing led to another and we went to work to see how we could get the babies over to her. Cyndi and her husband Yianni are like expectant parents and can't wait to see the ferrets," she said.

In a study of people visiting a Coventry animal shelter, Dr McNicholas and Dr Collis found that more than one third of people actively seeking a pet did so within one month of the death of a previous pet. Reasons given were frequently that of needing to restore an important aspect to a lifestyle, as well as a desire for the relationship with the individual pet.