An illegal ferret was captured early Sunday morning (1/22/12) in the parking lot of Coqui’s Hideaway Restaurant & Sports Bar in Hilo.  Around 1:00 a.m., a resident saw the ferret emerge from a parked moped and captured the animal. The animal was turned in to Hawai`i Island Humane Society later that day and turned over to inspectors at the Hilo office of the Hawai`i Department of Agriculture (HDOA) on Monday. The ferret was flown to Honolulu yesterday and is being safeguarded at HDOA”s Plant Quarantine Branch where it may be used for educational purposes until it can be shipped out of the state.

Ferrets are strictly prohibited as pets under Hawai`i law because they are potential carriers of the rabies virus.