To Anon:
 
Thanks for an informative note about "thing 1" biting the neighbor child.  I
sympathize with you and I share your concerns.  The notion of the state
condemning ANYTHING, let alone an animal, is abhorrent to everything I stand
for.  In order to protect myself from angry parents, big brother, or
otherwise, I went ahead and paid the 15-20 bucks for the rabies shot.
 Despite the stats, I figure I would have a leg to stand on, at least with
the "bitee."  If my ferrets should bite someone, god forbid, my only hope is
to appease the bitee and encourage them not to turn me in.  I'm in one of
those states.  With the rabies certificate, at least I have some leverage to
negotiate with the victim.  Good luck.
     By the way, someone was looking for a name for their new ferret the
other day.  Apparently, "ferret doe" is quite a climber and human needs an
appropriate name.  Here's a suggestion.  Something dawned on me yesterday
after my "Elvis" knocked over a bowl of jelly beans for about he hundreth
time.  Ferrets are absolute masters of gravity.  If they're not falling off
of something or somehow defying gravity, they are using gravity to their
advantage in order to access stuff heavier and "higher" than they are.  They
have no need to pick things up and move them.  They simply knock things off
of their perches, take advantage of latent energy, and let the "thing" suffer
the effects of gravity when it smashes on the floor.  Mr. Ferret simply has
to climb down and investigate, peruse, and inventory the new mess as
required.  All of this with little effort.  Therefore, in honor of the father
of the law of gravity, "Newton" would be a cool name for the new guy.  Just a
thought.
Peace, Dan.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0930]