Hello Roy, nice to hear from you, I'm also from the UK now living in quake city (Christchurch), I've got Bedlington bred lurchers I brought over with me and a foxwarren bred russell dog I'm using on possums for plucking fur ($140 a kilo at the moment). I had loads of ferrets about 10 years ago and worked them most weekends on rats and rabbits, but as you said its now banned - bugger. Anyway, good luck and let us know how you get on