Basic Information
Ferret Legging is a British endurance competition, now officially banned. The contestants tie the ankles of their trousers and place a ferret down them. Then they fasten their belts tightly and see how long they can endure the creature clawing and scratching around in their pants. Under the rules of the game, all ferrets used must have a full set of teeth and have all claws intact and the human contestant may not wear underwear.
Animal welfare organizations in Britain have gotten this sport banned, citing cruelty to the ferrets. Anyone who is willing to shove a weasel down his pants pretty much deserves whatever he gets. The last record holder was a seventy-two year old man from Yorkshire who kept a ferret in his trousers for almost five and a half hours.
The sport reportedly has its origins in poachers who would use ferrets to flush out game. Since the poachers didn't want to advertise the fact that they were hunting illegally, they would hide the ferrets down their trousers. Another theory goes that hunters would put the ferrets in their pants to keep the creatures warm in cold weather.
See Also:
Alleged smuggler foiled by 24 snakes, geckos
Sources
Game and Story Use
- You come to a remote village where the inhabitants are distrustful of strangers. To prove yourself to them, you agree to submit to a test of manhood without asking first what that test might be…
- You get into a drinking bout with a Yorkshireman in a pub and he challenges you to a contest. Do you accept?
- In a fantasy world, ferrets might not be the only creatures people put down their trousers in such contests…
- Presumably ownership of the ferret counts for a lot - rather one that you have raised and trained for such things yourself, than a wild animal dragged from under a hedge a few hours ago…