Matt Ouimette definitely has my vote for calling Geraldo, Dateline, and the
others in concert with ferret organizations nation-wide.  I hope everyone can
agree on a plan,  as those calls represent concrete advocacy in the effort to
overcome certain legislation in California, Massachussetts, Georgia (my home),
and other areas.
 
However, further advocacy for ferrets as pets requires facts stated with auth-
ority and documented.  It  was  inciteful  that Matt referred to ferrets as the
third most popular pet in this country, and pointed out that there are 1 Mil.
ferret owners with 10 million ferrets, and that federal law gives 'domestic
status' to ferrets.  In recent FMLs, we've also heard a comparison of the in-
cidence of rabies in ferrets vs dogs, cats, livestock, and people (!!!) (which,
BTW, sounded very favorable to ferrets, except that no one normalized the inci-
dence of rabies in any particular species w/ respect to populations - but per-
haps I overlooked that part).
 
Inciteful or favorable as these figures are,  could anyone offer a source for
the figures?  For example, where are ferrets mentioned in federal code? (There
*are* not state laws, per se, regarding ferrets in Georgia; there are, however
Rules of the Commisioner of Agriculture of the State of Georgia (which, by vir-
tue of the definition of his office in the state code, may have the force of
law).  Where was the ferret 'census' tabulated and published?  Who keeps count
of rabies cases, and where do they summarize and publish their findings?  What
data was cited that supported the MacDowells? Should I just check with Troy
Lyn Eckart?
 
Al Horne
 
[Posted in FML issue 0784]