When the APHIS docket site for ferrets went off-line on midnight between
Friday and Saturday EST there were 505 individual messages.  Of those
#0091 was the AFA form letter.  908 people sent that form letter in
before the site was put to bed.  There may be some other letters that
simply could not be scanned in by the deadline.  Hopefully, later there
will be a read-only location where those can be read, too.
 
Almost all of the letters were in favor of improving standards for
ferrets.
 
Something around 20, give or take a few were not.  These almost all fit
into a few groups.  There were some letters from vets for three large
farms.  One of these, from a vet in a town near Triple F was later
retracted by the author.  From that same area (usually the same town)
were a handful of individual letters objecting.  There was a smattering
of letters from some pet stores/distributors which objected to improved
standards.  These were all in the same font, the same font size, and had
small variations of wording for the exact same points, and shared the
same grammatical errors.  Each of these had to have the pet store or
distributor name and address written on except for one which appeared on
the company letterhead.  All of those referred to having PV ferrets and
food.  There was also a letter from a pet industry association, PIJAC,
which referred to those letters.  If PIJAC sounds familiar you might
recall when it apparently worked closely with PV to defeat the effort to
legislate older sales ages in Maryland.  There were also a few letters
from research animal associations, at least two of which echoed the
Marshall Farms vet's letter word for word.  Finally, there were, I
guess, three other short ones that did not fit into any category.
 
The almost 1,400 letters of support for improved standards were all very
helpful.  Some were especially helpful.
 
Several letters contained photos, or bibliographies, or both.  APHIS was
not only pointed to references that back the need for improvements, but
pictures of malnourished kits next to small, easily recognized items,
and one comparing a kit tooth to pieces of kibble illustrated what words
perhaps could not fully get across.  Developmental studies were quoted.
Breeders explained why older kits are healthier and better adjusted.
They have nothing to gain themselves from doing so; these letters were
clearly written for the sole purpose of saving kits.  Shelters explained
the burden placed upon them by the kits who can not survive without
special care.  Several people who have worked for pet stores and a
distributor told about sick and dead kits and about what they had to do
to try to save the ones who had a chance with special care.  One person
who worked at an airport hub told of conditions the kits faced in
shipment.  Several veterinarians spoke out about the ferrets for whom
they had cared and what improvements they would like to see.  PETsMART
joined us ferret folks when it requested both ferret-specific APHIS
standards and minimum ages for sale.  That is very logical on their
part.  Although some pet stores are short sighted, PETsMART has realized
that stores are helped by animals being healthier.The list could go on,
because I am sure that I must be missing some, but you get the idea.  A
very good case was made, I think.
 
What happens now?  Now we wait for the APHIS experts to go through the
letters and decide what will be changed, and when.  I have read a few
of their past documents explaining their decisions and they appear to
reflect very hard working people who are extremely careful to be fair.
Those reports were marvelously thorough.  My hope is that those also
indicate that we finally are being heard.
 
The sad thing is that the ferret community over an over again through the
years gave the ferret industry many chances to self-police and correct
the problems with which too many of us are all too familiar.  It became
one of those "Give them an inch and they will take a mile" situations,
though.  Frustrated, the ferret community saw no option but to seek
improvements through official channels.
 
Many thanks for your work toward a better future for everyone who wrote
a letter calling for APHIS to have ferret-specific standards, including
minimum shipping ages of at least 8 weeks old.  Right now is the time
to be cautiously optimistic as we wait for our points to be carefully
considered.
 
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5067]