Ferret attacks baby

This is well-known news in the Kansas City area, but I don't know if it's made its way to other parts of the country.  A pet ferret attacked a four-month-old baby that was in an infant rocker and chewed off seven fingers, leaving the baby with two thumbs and part of one finger.  You can find that report HERE.  
The child's mother was supposedly in the same room with the baby, sleeping.  
What we're all wondering is how on earth did the ferret eat that many fingers so fast?  Because you know that baby would have screamed bloody murder the first time he was bitten.  
Neighbors said the ferret had bitten the baby before.  The family had reportedly considered having the ferret's teeth removed to prevent it from biting again, and had also considered re-homing it.
A local veterinary said ferrets should not be allowed to run free when there are children around.  
According to the American Pediatric Association, this is not necessarily an isolated instance.  It's happened in other places before.  This article explains that ferrets seem to be attracted to babies, perhaps because of the smell of milk.  
I'll leave it to you to decide whether ferrets should be allowed to roam free around babies, and whether a ferret would have time to devour seven of a baby's fingers before the mother sleeping in the same room could wake up and save the baby.