I am pleased to note that the author of this article has made some crucial
amendments, especially regarding rabies.  However, I still think that some
very important facts have been left out.  The statement "However, they can
be dangerous pets," when paired with a lack of specific statistical
information, is very misleading!!  The author states that medical journals
contain reports of unprovoked attacks on infants, yet never mentions just
how many of these attacks have been reported, or in which journals.  (And,
in fact, The Humane Society's page, pointed to in the reference section,
specifically states that children should not be left unattended with
ferrets, not that they are dangerous animals to have as pets.)  Yet in
the bit about dogs he says, "Frequently, the treatment of injured children
involves hospitalization and surgical repair.  In the U.S., an average of
twenty people each year are killed by dog attacks.  Seventy percent of the
victims are children less than ten years of age.  Pit Bulls are most often
the offending dogs" and yet nowhere in THAT article does it EVER mention
that dogs are dangerous pets.  This illustrates a blatant bias towards
ferrets on the part of the author.  The fact remains that, as with dogs and
cats, the possibility of injury due to ferret bites in children is directly
related to the quality of supervision!  It is also worth mentioning that
despite the fact that the author of this article has for some reason left
out important data on the subject, the number of children actually injured
by ferret bites is much lower than that of cat and/or dog bites.  In fact,
the 1988 Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine Association (JAVMA)
reported between 1978 & 1988 there were an average of 1-3 million reported
dog bites per year, compared to only 65 reported ferret bites.  Under the
serious injuries heading, the JAVMA reported 44,000 per year for dogs and
only 12 for ferrets.  In fact, on the AVMA's website pointed to under
references, you can find numerous articles regarding how dangerous dog
bites are.  "Dog attacks are the No. 1 public health problem of children,
with more than half of children bitten by age 12," said Dr. John I.
Freeman, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
Why was this data not reflected in the article??
[Posted in FML issue 2977]