All,
 
Last Saturday in Concord, NH three 8-week old ferret kits were killed
needlessly as the result of ignorance, and state policy.
 
A woman stuck her hand in a ferret cage and had her little finger bit by
one of the MF-bred kits.  "I had to yonk my finger out of its mouth.  My
finger was throbbing.  It was bleeding. [The photos show what looks like
a scratch.]  It had broken the skin in two places."  The woman lamented.
 
As you know, at 8 weeks the kits are first learning about humans and
still haven't been taught that human skin is not a tough as ferret skin.
Now they never will learn about that or any ofthe other pleasures of
life.
 
These kits were isolsated from all possible exposure to any other animals
unti lthey were put on the truck and shiped to the pet store.  The
mothers had been innoculated and passed on the immunity to the kits.
There was NO-WAY for those kits to have rabies.  There was no reason to
kill them.
 
The woman started the series of rabies shots.  The NH State Vet, Clifford
McGinnis is quoted as saying, " that each situation of animal bites has
to be considered individually to determine the risk.  "It would take a
pretty brave MD to say 'I don't think there's any risk here.'"
 
 
Last week a young female ferret was killed after a middle-school child
jerked her hand out of the ferret's mouth and scratched her finger. The
ferret had been innoculated and had never been outside unsupervised. The
State public Health Department ordered the ferret killed and tested.
 
A young child was nipped on the finger at another pet store by one of
some 40 ferrets in a large cage.  The Public Health officer who was
called in ordered all 40 kits destroyed; the petstore owner refused and
saved them.
 
If this makes you as angry as it does me, please write and let these
State Officials know that killing young kits and vaccinated ferrets is
entirely unnecessary.  A polite letter letting NH know that the eyes of
the world ore on them and their uninformed policies.  [Polite letters get
more action than flames, please.]
 
The newspaper address is:
 
Concord Monitor - Mike Pride
P.O. Box 1177
Concord, NH   03302-1177
 
Attn:  Letters to the Editor
 
 
The Public Health Dept address is:
 
H. H. Bird, MD, Commissioner
Department of Public Health and Human Services
6 Hazen Drive
Concord, NH  03301-6527
 
also be sure to send a cc to:
Katie Dunn, RN, BS, Program Chief
Communicable Disease Epiidemiology Program
        (same address)
 
Thank you.
 
Dick Bossart
 
[Posted in FML issue 0861]