I, too, am outraged by the forced death of the kit in Maryland.
 
However, I disagree to a large extent with the idea that asking our
elected officials for help will change the situation. It appears to me
that ferret enthusiasts have already tried to work within the system to
make the system work -- and their efforts were in vain. They essentially,
in good faith, presented reasonable arguments in the belief that the
state, in an administrative hearing (not a court of law) would rule
against itself. They filed all the actions permissible within the
regulatory system. They even had the help of local media who publicized
the case. In the end, the state authorities ruled in favor of
another state authority, the chief public health officer (Dr. Grigor), in
spite of laws that would have allowed them to give the ferret the same
status as other animals in similar situations, such as horses and cattle.
As a former newspaper reporter, it looks to me like every effort has been
tried to make the system work.
 
In my opinion, the only avenue that will change this tide of negative
feeling and rulings toward ferrets is legal action. The family of the
child who was bitten a month ago threatened to sue, and that was a
possibility Maryland's authorities did not want to contemplate. I'm not
a big fan of lawsuits, mind you -- they're expensive, time-consuming,
and stressful, but they serve as a check and balance against the
executive and legislative branches of government. Why do you think most
state authorities wouldn't dare to just kill someone's cow or horse
without a quarantine? Because those animals are expensive and they're
someone's livelihood and the authorities would be faced with legal
action and probably required to recompense the litigant for any losses.
It doesn't matter that adequate rabies studies are non-existent for those
animals -- not in the eyes of legislators and health officials, who have
large constituencies of people who own and breed horses and cattle.
Ferrets don't have the same financial or legal backing.
 
I believe that ferret enthusiasts should collect donations and interview
and hire a tough attorney to represent us in the next case like this. Not
only will we be taken more seriously, but we'll be likely to get not only
local, but national media coverage.
 
And as for the earlier suggestion that we collect funding for another
rabies study, that's fine with me (and I might even be willing to send a
donation), but only on one condition -- that it becomes THE definitive
rabies study on ferrets and leaves NO avenue for this kind of government
gerrymandering that ignores the evidence that already has been collected.
Otherwise there's not much point in doing it. I'm not willing to send a
bunch more ferrets to their death for no reason.
 
                                Linda Doran
[Posted in FML issue 1086]