>From:    Lee McKee <[log in to unmask]>
>Immediately after reading that post, I went down to what I think is the
>pet store in question, The Pet Shop, on Harvard Ave in Allston.  I talked
>to the manager, who said that they did not carry -- and have not carried
>-- ferrets because they are not legal in Mass.
 
I lived a block from this store for 10 years.
 
What you were told was essentially true, but the manager may have been
unaware of some other details, or unwilling to release them because they
don't know who you are or what organization you may be with.
 
I have had a number of ferret conversations with the owner of the store.
Many years ago, a little while after I first moved into the area, the owner
of the store was keeping his personal ferrets in a cage there (I seem to
remember there were 6 or so).  He had just moved from FL, where they were
legal.  I was told at the time something along the lines of "he can own
them, because he owned them before he moved into the state, and he owns a
pet store, but he can't sell them because they're not legal as pets in MA".
Whether the bit about being able to own them was true or not, I couldn't
say, but I was a lot more ignorant about ferret issues at the time.
 
So no, the store doesn't carry ferrets and has not carried ferrets.  But
that doesn't mean you won't see them there or haven't seen them there in
the past.  I've seen them there several times, but they weren't for sale.
 
                                       ...eliz
[Posted in FML issue 1296]