Ferret escapes cardboard box at Colorado postal facility

May 17 (UPI) -- Police in Colorado are investigating after a live ferret sent through the mail chewed its way out of a cardboard box at a postal facility.

Denver Animal Protection said field officers responded to a U.S. Postal Service facility in Denver after workers reported a ferret was loose inside the building.

The workers determined the ferret had been mailed in a cardboard box and chewed its way to freedom inside the facility.

"The animal apparently didn't like it's traveling arrangements and chewed its way out and got out at the general mail facility," Denver Animal Protection Field Officer Lorraine Pacheco told KCNC-TV.

The Denver Police Department said an investigation has been opened. They said the package was sent from Fort Morgan and investigators have identified the sender. Police are now determining whether animal cruelty charges will be filed.

Pacheco said the ferret was dehydrated and exhausted when it arrived at the Denver Animal Shelter, where staff dubbed the animal FedEx. She said the ferret has since recovered and is "acting like a normal ferret."

Pacheco urged people who need to transport their pets to look into the proper methods.

"You put them in a live animal carrier; you have to pay for a health certificate and you have to have them vaccinated," she said. "Please don't ship live animals through the post office."

Unusual live animals are occasionally found to have been improperly mailed -- the Federal Police of Mexico said in February that a live tiger cub was found inside a plastic tub sent through the express mail.