Polecat (European) - Introduction

The polecat used to be called a 'foul mart' because of its strong smell. The name polecat is said to be from the French poule chat,'the chicken cat' and it will kill chickens given the chance! Ferrets are creamy-white, domesticated polecats used to catch rabbits, and some escape or are lost. Many of these ferrets have reverted to polecat colouring over the generations and are known as polecat-ferrets, though they usually have a paler forehead and no mask. They also interbreed with true polecats so polecats vary in colour depending on how much ferret and how much true polecat is in their ancestry. Polecat-ferrets are found throughout Britain.