Man beaten over ferret

NEW YORK, March 18 (UPI) -- A New York City man attempting to wrestle back his stolen ferret was savagely beaten outside his home, police said.

Ferret owner Jose Serrano feared the animal had been stolen after it disappeared. He saw a man, whom some neighbors allege is a drug dealer, carrying the ferret Thursday, and confronted him.

Witnesses said the man and his friends kicked and attacked Serrano.

"He was bleeding a lot, his face was full of blood," Freddie Nunez, a neighbor who watched the assault, told The New York Daily News.

Serrano was listed in critical condition at New York-Presbyterian Hospital with bleeding on his brain, his family told The News.

Serrano, a porter in his apartment building, adopted the ferret, named Mico, after its elderly owner died.