Defeat (for now) in Massachusetts
                           by Beau Bannerman
 
      The struggle to legalize ferrets as a companion animal in
Massachusetts is essentially over for another year.  The bill which would
have legalized ferrets was sent to the Animal Studies Group and
cannot be acted on again this year.  The most positive thing that can
be said is that we went further than ever before, and that the light
is visible at the end of the tunnel!
 
      The drive began in early January when I found out that there was
a bill sponsored in the State Senate.  I quickly got my hands on a
copy of it, reviewed it myself, and then asked the opinion of Thomas
French, Assistant Director for Nongame and Endangered Species at the
Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.  It was our
concurrent opinion that the bill, while having the right intentions,
was lacking in thoroughness.
 
      Mr. French had written a comprehensive draft of a ferret bill
several years ago, but had been told not to release it to the
legislature by the previous director of the DFW.  After a bit of
jockeying I secured permission for Mr. French to release the draft.  I
brought this draft to the couple who had written the pending bill and
Senator Buell, the sponsoring senator.  I had little trouble
convincing them that Mr. French's draft should be presented at the
Natural Resources Committee hearing as the redraft of their original
bill.
 
      The redraft allows the possession of neutered ferrets without a
permit.  It requires breeders to pay a $500 tri-annual breeder's
permit and the breeders would be subject to frequent inspections.  Ferret
owners are also required to possess certification of annual
vaccination against rabies and canine distemper and that the ferret
has been neutered or spayed.
 
      From late January until the hearing, April 16, I actively sought
support for the bill.  I received invaluable support from Fara Shimbo,
John Armshaw, Bill Phillips, and Mary Van Dahm of FURO, Pam Grant of
Pet Pals, Chip Gallo of the AFA, and Dr. Marshall of Marshall Farms.
This support ranged from Public Information Manuals to informative
letters addressed to the Natural Resource Committee to fantastic
advice!  During this time I also contacted the Animal Rescue League of
Boston, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and the Massachusetts SPCA
to try and convince these long time foes of ferrets that they were
misinformed.  The MSPCA would not budge from their position, but both
the Audubon Society and the Animal Rescue League of Boston chose not
to come to the hearing and that was a major success.
 
      The MSPCA position against the domestic ferret was founded on
the feeling that ferrets would be mistreated in pet stores and that
they would be bought on impulse and that Massachusetts' shelters would
be overrun with unwanted ferrets.  They chose to ignore the letters
which contained the testimony of Pam Grant and Mary Van Dame to the
contrary.
 
      The hearing was held before the Natural Resource Committee at
the Massachusetts State House in Boston on April 16.  The hearing was
set up so that those in favor spoke first and then those in
opposition.  There was a three minute maximum for each person to
speak.  The Natural Resource Committee listens to testimony and later, in
executive session, decides whether or not the bill should be sent on
the the House and Senate.  If they decide to send it on, the House and
Senate votes on the bill, and if it passes, it is sent to the Governor
for him to sign.  If the Committee decides against sending the
bill to the legislature, it can either kill the bill outright, or
send it to a studies group for the year and receive a report on the
subject the following year.
 
      The speeches in favor of the bill began with the couple who
had written the original bill.  They stated their support of the redraft
which I was to submit to the committee.  I then submitted the redraft
and used my three minutes to explain it briefly and state some
important facts about ferrets.  The next speaker was the Director of
the DFW.  His support was a major breakthrough because the DFW had
never supported a ferret bill before.  Next was the Senator Buell who
simply stated his support for the redraft and his wish that ferrets
become legalized.  The remaining speakers in support were composed of
several pet store owners, a representative from PIJAC, and several
individual citizens.
 
      Next came the opposition.  The major players were the MSPCA and
the Humane Society.  They both stated their opposition (and thus the
implied opposition of the large number of people that they supposedly
represent.)  Also, a number of researchers, under the mistaken
impression that the bill would not allow them to possess unaltered
ferret, spoke against the bill, but most also stated their support of
ferrets as a companion animal.  Included in this group was Dr. Fox of
M.I.T.  I spoke to their group after the hearing and informed them
that the redraft has specific language in it allowing for research to
continue under present guidelines.  They volunteered to write a
retraction of their opposition.  The remaining speakers were
individual "activists" who expressed their opposition to pets in general.
 
      The only other speaker of note was the last person to speak,
Bruce White.  He introduced himself to the Committee as the Northeast
Director of the Black-footed Ferret Fund; a member of the MSPCA, the
Humane Society, and the Animal Rescue League of Boston; a board
director of the Animal Rescue League of Fall River; and the Director of
the Michael J Alfonso Ferret Rescue Center.  What he forgot to
mention was that he also runs the United Ferret Organization and the
Ferret World mail order company.  He stated to the committee that he
was in favor of legalizing ferrets, but that the original bill was not
comprehensive enough and that he hadn't seen the redraft.  The weekend
before the hearing I had driven 200 miles roundtrip and had spent 3
hours reviewing the redraft at Bruce White's home.
 
      It was a major shock to see him speaking in opposition and
extremely disheartening (to say the least!) to hear the lies he
stated before the committee that hurt ferret owners everywhere.  It
should be also noted that Bruce White is the only private citizen in
Massachusetts that has a permit to own ferrets.  Permits to own
ferrets in Massachusetts are only granted to established research
and educational institutions.  Through the Animal Rescue League of
Fall River he established the Ferret Rescue Center (which receives
confiscated ferrets and places them out of state) and thus was able to
obtain a permit.  With this permit, not only is he able to run the Rescue
Center, but he is also able to keep any number of ferrets as pets (and he
had a whole slew of pet ferrets running around his house.)
 
      While we were unsuccessful, this was the first ferret bill that
the DFW spoke in support of, the first ferret bill that wasn't killed
outright by the Natural Resource Committee, and it was the first
ferret bill that the Audubon Society and the Animal Rescue League of
Boston chose not to speak against.  All that we have left to go on
for the rest of the year is to petition the Governor to introduce
ferret legalizing legislation directly to the legislature.  Other
than that, all we can do is refile the bill for next year.
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0162]