Howdy:
 
        I have been reading with great interest the suggestions from
various members regarding the creation of a concise and comprehensive
document that supports ferret ownership.  I believe that this is a great
idea, and am volunteering myself for investigative duty.  I work at Cornell
University and spend a lot of time at the various libraries getting journal
articles for my own research.  I would be happy to hunt down articles
detailing important ferret statistics for those who can supply me with the
specific references.  The following topics are probably most relevant:
1.  Ferrets maim babies.
2.  Ferrets are rabid.
3.  Ferrets will escape and breed in the wild.
        Obviously, these seem to be the big guns as far as the anti-ferret
lobby goes.  I believe that with a modicum of effort we can get references
that dispute this disinformation in a scientifically sound fashion.  Though
I work with another kingdom of organisms (plants), but I have a pretty good
statistics background which should allow me to at least determine if the
statistics are reasonable (I hope!).
        If I get enough recent and conclusive scientific studies in hand, I
will try to consolidate the findings for a short newsletter or something.
Also, if there are any topics which anti-ferret folks seem to rely upon, I
would like to know of them so that they can be challenged as well.
        Any suggestions for me regarding the focus of such a venture?
 
Ciao - DAVE and "the girls"
 
[Posted in FML issue 0790]