One for the good guys!  At the Fairfax County VA Board of Supervisors meeting
this afternoon, the board decided that ferrets were of insufficient risk to
warrant banning or registration.  Despite the misinformation supplied by the
county health officer (ferrets are 'semi' wild animals, ferrets are
substantially prone to biting, etc) the board found that there was only one
case of a rabid ferret in Fairfax County (the dr. said it was in '80, it was,
in fact, in June of '82)and therefore suspended the hearing.  They did ask for
their staff to propose a law allowing seizure of ferrets after a reported bite
although there are already in place legal procedures for same.  If such a law
is passed, we intend to ensure it also covers cats and dogs!  While we were
unable to present factual information to the board to correct the
misinformation, the fact that there were over 100 pro-ferret folks there had to
be somewhat intimidating.  If there is news coverage, I will follow up.
 
Thanks again,
 
Scott.
 
[Yeah!
 
Question: I take it that in the case of ferrets, in the case of a bite where
an official seizure takes place, that the animal would *eventually* be
destroyed?  Some of the newspaper articles you sent to the mailing list
implied that the official state response regarding ferrets was that since
there was no officially accepted "incubation"/"rabies confirmation" process
short of autopsy for ferrets, that a suspected animal has to be killed.  True?
 
As one bitten by experience (but not by a furry ;-), I highly recommend that
you and other local ferret fanciers keep on top of any meetings w.r.t.
ferrets until the laws are actually cast in concrete.  We've been stung
by total reversals after the furor has died down before in other issues.]
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0049]