Originally posted by Karen
Here's a page about polecats - they're only NATIVE to Europe, but as you can see, they look a whole lot like ferrets, and are closely related.

Polecat Info
Yes they are but they are becoming more popular here in the states. Ferret people breed them with ferrets to help get more healthy lines into them (thanks to stupid ferret farms). You'd be surprised how many polecats & hybrids that are around. It could of been one that got loose or who knows. They are very closely related to ferrets, if memory serves me right I think they are the only animals that can be bred with ferrets.

Amy, Mink are larger than ferrets, generally speaking, but not by much. Actually if you get a healthy ferret from a private breeder they are about the same size as mink. Its that ferret farms that bred porely causing bad lines. I'm trying to get ahold of my friend who has 2 mink as pets to see if I can borrow a picture to show you.