Excellent post Leanne.  You brought up many good points.  We need to
remember the list of ferret cases that went to through the legal system
and the ferrets were killed.  Kodo in Michigan was an especially
heartbreaking case.  He was vaccinated, he didn't bite anyone - an
elderly gentleman scraped his finger along Kodo's overhanging canine
tooth when he went to pet him under the chin.  Kodo was turned over to
animal control, was in quarantine for 6 weeks while the legal system
went through the process.  When it was all done and said, the Judge ruled
that Kodo should be killed, and this precious innocent 10 month old
ferret lost his life even though the law was followed.  Here in Kansas
Longtail's ruling by the judge was to be killed as well.  Fortunately for
Longtail and his brother, someone whisked them away to safety before the
verdict was delivered and their location was not known.  We know they
were safe because two years later the McDowells received a video tape,
with no return address, showing the two boys with their human siblings,
playing and loving each other.
 
The law doesn't work the same way in every location.  It is important to
know what your area animal laws.  It also isn't easy to change or amend
animal regulations/statutes.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, but be
careful and very precise when doing so.  You don't want to make it worse
for ferrets than it already may be.
 
Morrison Case Correction -
I don't know where the misinformation came from but when the ferrets were
confiscated from Morrison's condo, they were alive.
 
Morrison told me one died in her cage outside before being loaded to go
to animal control.  On Saturday, Morrison didn't get to all the cages to
give fresh water and food.  On Sunday, animal control was closed and
Morrison didn't attempt to get in to care for the ferrets.  On Monday
when she did get in she found several ferrets dead in the cages.  The
last count of ferrets that died that Morrison told me, was 6.
 
Humane Society Funding -
Here in Kansas, the animal shelters receive funding from county and/or
city budgets for taking care of animals in their areas.  Some animal
shelters have names such as "such and such County Humane Society", or are
named after the city or a contributor.  The shelters that don't receive
government funds that I'm are aware of are "private" shelters, meaning
that they are rescue type shelters.  Here in Kansas, to be a shelter,
whether you receive government funding or not, it costs $300 a year paid
to the Kansas Animal Health Dept.  These funds are not put back into the
animal health field.  It's interesting to note that the Kennel yearly fee
is $75 and it is an earning entity yet pays less of a state fee....
 
I don't know of any ferret shelters anywhere that receive government
funding.
 
Hugs to all. tle
 
Troy Lynn Eckart, F.B.S.
Ferret Family Services
http://www.ferretfamilyservices.org
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/
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[Posted in FML issue 3929]