[Unfortunately, the original quoted article got garbled somehow.
Scott decided to recreate the gist rather than the original text.
I do have the garbled version which has relatively little damage
saved, so Scott could reissue it if he wants]
 
Chris, I trashed the article after typing it to mailx and have no copy.
I will attempt to reconstruct the gist of it.
 
A current ferret issue here in Virginia is the case of the missing
ferret.  About a week ago, a 5 year-old child stuck his hand in a cage
containing 3 ferrets and was bitten by one.  This occurred at the Doktor
pet center in Manassas, virginia.  One of the ferrets in the cage be-
longed to Christine Au, 19, an employee there.  She claims to have
witnessed the biting and her ferret (Fuji) was not the culprit.  When
the mother left to see the doctor, Ms. Au, seeing the writing on the
wall, spirited Fuji away.  The authorities soon arrived, took the two
remaining ferrets, decapitated them, and of course, found no evidence
of rabies.  Meanwhile, Au called various ferret groups in the area for
advice and having moved Fuji to an abandoned house, someone (she claims
not to know who and this statement was verified by the head of the
Maryland State Ferret Society or some such).  She further claims that
Fuji has been in his cage more than 30 days prior to the incident and
showed no signs of illness.  The Washington Post received an anonymous
call from a man claiming to have Fuji in his possession on Saturday
said the animal is fine and has no signs of illness.  Meanwhile, the
child is undergoing the rabies shot series, very painful and potentially
dangerous due to his age.  Au was called before a Virginia judge and
told to produce the animal in 12 hours or face contempt charges.  12
hours later after making calls in an attempt to find Fuji, and failing,
she was back in court.  Given an additional 12 hours, the Judge told
her she would be in contempt and go to jail if she did not produce
this time.  He said she would stay in Jail until the animal was produced
to which Au replied "then I will be in for life".  There has been no
word on this case since Saturday and I believe Fuji is still a free
ferret.  I fear, however, that he is doomed.  There currently exists
a ferret hysteria here on the East coast.  CBS Evening News has had
a segment tending to propogate certain myths and the Animal Welfare
League talks of initiating legislation banning ferrets as pets.
Unless this hysteria is countered, THAT MAY HAPPEN.  We can start by
writing letters to the editors of papers and magazines that carry
anti-ferret stories.  We need a viable rabies vaccine and the animal
health companies should be petitioned to invest in such research.
I am concerned and I know you are as well.  I will update this story
as events unfold.
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0028]