I just have to rant on this one!  That instructor really pushes my
buttons!
 
Rachel said:
>She then takes the gentle "yes-dear-but-I-know-what
>I'm-talking-about-and-you-do-not"....
 
Ahhh!  Academic condescending censorship!  When I get a instructor like
that, I make a POINT out of challenging them with questions until I
embarrass them.  There is no worse academic crime than censoring the
exchange of ideas simply because they are new or do not fit in with an
instructor's personal paradigm.
 
Rachel added:
>even if it were only a period of three months, it would wreak havoc on
>black-footed ferret populations.
 
What a maroon!  (Not you, Rachel!) I would have asked, "WHAT black-footed
ferret populations?"  There are NO known natural black-footed ferret
populations, and only a few introductions tentatively hanging on by their
scientific threads.  You can be sure without a doubt that those few and
protected introduced BFF populations are carefully isolated and observed
and a "feral ferret" would never be allowed to impact them.  This is the
type of argument that illustrates the person is talking without thinking.
It is like saying, "It is only a hypothesis," as if being "an idea under
testing" makes it wrong or somehow unreliable.  I only hope the
hypothesis of gravity being a function of mass holds up -- my God!  We
could spin of into space!  After all, it is only a hypothesis!  In
science, EVERYTHING is "only a hypothesis," and negative evidence,
including "could haves," is not proof.  Can you imagine being charged
with negative evidence in a court of law?  "Members of the jury, you
must convict this person of murder because they MIGHT have done it,
even though there is NO physical evidence they did--I just SUSPECT they
could." COULD in no way means WILL, and the burden of proof is on the
instructor to show ferrets CAN go feral and impact BFF populations.  But
that is not the worst part....
 
This statement clearly shows the person has no idea of what they are
talking about.  First of all, California forbids ferrets, NOT Wyoming,
Arizona, the Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, parts of Canada,
etc.--the areas currently used and planned for use to reintroduce the
black-footed ferret.  There were no populations of black-footed ferrets
in California, the current ecology cannot support BFF populations, and
they will never be released there.  Strangely, in the areas where ferrets
are legal, THERE ARE NO FERAL FERRET POPULATIONS despite the niche opened
by the eradication of the BFF.  Think about the brilliance of this
instructor's argument: domesticated ferrets should remain illegal in
California because they could impact the black-footed ferret population,
even though there were never any BFFs in CaCaLand, they will never be
released there, ferrets have never formed feral populations in the USA,
and ferrets are legal in areas were BFFs ARE being released and are NOT
a problem.  This person is a double maroon!  You should ask her about
her opinions on established feral dog and cat populations in the USA.
Or maybe about introduced sports fish, feral pigs, pheasants, quail and
other exotic wildlife "regulated" and "conserved" (for sale of hunting &
fishing permits) by fish and game departments across the USA.  A triple
maroon!!  They must live where there is a lot on snow, because they have
their head in an ice hole.
 
Rachel said;
>can anyone point me towards information on the black-footed ferret,
>habitat destruction, competitors, etc.?
 
I used to help with this all the time, but it didn't take long to realize
I was researching and outlining student papers.  Like clockwork, at the
start of each new semester I get a rash of requests asking for
information on ferrets and I have to ignore them.  The problem is that
you are a student taking a class, so I can't directly give you references
because of academic ethics.  You see, it is one thing for someone to ask
me to read a paper or argument--already researched and written (even if
just preliminary)--and ask I comment on it, and another thing altogether
to give out the references needed to write a paper when that is something
the student should be learning do on their own.  References make the
paper, and if I gave the references, that would make me a contributing
author--few instructors would accept that; I know I wouldn't -- I'd fail
the paper.
 
However, I have no problem pointing you in the right direction and you
can use science search engines such as Biological Abstracts to find the
references on your own.  I would look up a modern edited volume on world
mustelid conservation and read what they have to say regarding mink
v. polecat competition (you'll probably have to borrow the book using
interlibrary loan), find a book on invading species and read a bit on
the "rule of 10", and find a kingly book that discusses mustelid natural
history (essentially the same as the ferret) and compare those habitats
to suitable California environments, THEN look at the competing species
you might find in CaCaLand and compare it to what you already learned
from reading the mustelid conservation book.  One other hint might be
to do a search for papers (or web sites) by Johnny Birks, Thierry Lode,
P. I. Danilov, Jedrzejewska & Jedrzejewski, V. Sidorovich, and Tamar
Dayan (and look at the references therein).  Maybe older issues of the
FML might be a suitable source; you never know who might have already
argued these issues....
 
If you get something together and ask me to review it, I would drop
EVERYTHING to give you a hand.  But ethically, I cannot provide a student
with references they should be learning to find on their own.  Learning
to find references is part of a student's academic growth, and I cannot
ignore that.
 
Bob C
[Posted in FML issue 4421]