A FERAL ferret, which has been terrorising gardens in a North Somerset village, has finally been caught. The oversized animal has been handed to the RSPCA after it latched onto the tail of a Churchill resident's dog and spread its scent around their home.

A FERAL ferret, which has been terrorising gardens in a North Somerset village, has finally been caught.The oversized animal has been handed to the RSPCA after it latched onto the tail of a Churchill resident's dog and spread its scent around their home.The ferret has been spotted in other gardens in the Dolberrow area of the village and it viciously attacked another dog just days before it was caught.Residents are now breathing a sigh of relief after the animal, which is around 16 inches long, was eventually trapped in the home of Lyn Isgrove.Mrs Isgrove said: "My son and I had sat down for lunch when we heard this peculiar noise."Our dog ran around the table and this huge cat-like creature was hanging off the top of its tail."The smell was unbelievable. We managed to get the dog out of the door and gently, using a couple of walking sticks, got the ferret off."We went back inside but the ferret was scrabbling to get back in as well."We rang a neighbour who had handled ferrets before and eventually trapped it in a plastic box so the RSPCA could pick it up."We thought it was quite friendly before it took a lunge at my son."The ferret is now being fostered at a house in Weston and the RSPCA is looking for a new home for it.RSPCA inspector John Norman said: "It was a good sized ferret, around 15 to 16 inches long including its tail."It was a male ferret and they tend to be a little bigger than the females."We think someone had probably been ferreting in the woods for rabbits and got fed up waiting for it and just left it up there.