[Copied to the FML, sent to another list too.  BIG]
I just received a disturbing report from another list.  In New Zealand,
a group of animal rights activists "raided" a ferret farm, and "freed" a
number of ferrets by releasing them to the wild.
 
I personally find this sort of practice disgusting and disturbing.  The
farm in question was raising the animals as pets and or fur animals.
 
ANY domesticated animal has had it's natural instincts diminished by
domestication.  In the case of ferrets, released into the wild, the
domestic ferret would be lucky to survive for a week.  As a ferret owner
I know that my three think nothing of checking out any other animal,
needless to say if they escaped, their chances of long term survival are
nil.  Ferrets have been in the US for over 300 years as domestic animals,
and there are no, I repeat NO, instances of them surviving as feral
animals.
 
Any animal that has been domesticated/ raised in captivity/not indigenous
to the area that is released has a very poor chance of survival.  Most
humans, if thrown out into the wilderness with only the clothes on their
backs would find survival difficult, if not impossible in the long term.
And we have the ability to make tools and use our intellects.
 
I also am concerned that some well meaning person or group will someday
release a lab animal into the wild that is infected with a contagious
disease such as smallpox, anthrax, plague, Ebola etc..  Should this happen,
even if the disease is not spread, the backlash against the animal rights
community in general will be enormous.
 
Yes, the ferrets in question were living in substandard conditions, BUT,
they were protected against predators and fed.  The biggest concern was
the cramped living quarters.
 
Pictures of animals crowded into cages are much more likely to achieve the
desired response than setting the animals free to die in the wild.  Most of
the general public considers this sort of act to be a form of terrorism, I
consider it ABUSE.
 
Michael "Mick"Schmid
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
(When All Else Fails, Play Dead)
[Posted in FML issue 3126]