WE NEED YOUR HELP!
   Last month, the rights of ferrets and ferret-owners were dealt a serious
blow in the courts.
   Federal Court Judge Alan G. Schwartz, of the Southern District of NY,
dismissed the lawsuit brought by the NYC Friends of Ferrets against the NYC
Health Dept., which challenged the city's prohibition on ferrets and the
automatic kill-and-test-for-rabies policy for any reported ferret bite.  The
lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of such policies on two grounds:
"equal protection" (ferrets are treated differently by the government than
other animals) and "due process" (ferret owners are not offered a hearing
before their ferrets are confiscated and killed).  The unfairness of the
latter can result in the sacrifice of your ferret even if the bite report is
false.
    Judge Schwartz accepted all of the City's arguments and rejected all of
our arguments and declared ferrets to be wild and dangerous animals.  The
decision is inherently unfair because Judge Schwartz is a former head of the
NYC Law Dept. and law-partner of former Mayor Koch, thus making him biased in
favor of his former employer. He was asked to remove himself from this case
at the outset and he arrogantly refused.
    The danger of letting this decision stand is that now any local public
health department across the country can cite this decision as a legal basis
to make anti-ferret policy.  WE MUST OVERTURN THIS DECISION.
   NYC Friends of Ferrets (the legal action wing of Big Apple Ferrets) filed
the Notice of Appeal on March 14, and must now appeal this case to the U.S.
Second Circuit, which is a panel of three judges less likely to be influenced
by local politics.  But to have the voluminous lower court record indexed,
copied and bound and our attorney submit a 50-page brief in support of
reversal is going to cost several thousand dollars in legal fees and expenses
(and our attorney gave us a very low rate).
   There are millions of ferret-owners out there.  If enough of you gave just
five dollars each, we'd meet our needs.  Please spread the word.  This
decision ultimately affects every ferret-owner in the country and we must
reverse it now.  We can't impress on you how important this is.  Please send
whatever you can afford to:
   Big Apple Ferrets legal fund
   P.O. Box 268 - Gracie Station
   New York, NY  10028
   If you have any questions, or you would like a copy of the decision, you
can contact us at the above or e-mail us at [log in to unmask]  THANK YOU!
 
[Moderator's note: Yes, I was asked if it was OK to post this beforehand.  As
long as it's ferret related occasional solicitations have their value here...
though write to me if you feel otherwise.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1135]