To Judi Lunn:
 
Your report on Rachel's TV stunt with the Postal Service is completely
outrageous. I'm sure lots of us can find ways to use it against her--among
other things it would probably be good grist for the mill for a follow-on
letter to Paul Irwin and the HSUS board, driving home the inconsistency
between her all-tolerant view of dogs and her pogrom against ferrets.
 
--On dog bites: According to the Insurance Information Institute,
headquartered in Washington D.C., 3.5 million dog bites are reported each
year, and half of them are serious enough to need medical attention.
 
--On the Nevada bite case:
>Also, can someone confirm that the affidavit posted the other day was
actually the affidavit of the Animal Control person at that scene?  Is little
Michelle in fact now in the custody of her grandmother?<
 
The person who escorted Michelle around to testify at the CA hearings and
appear on CBS is identified as her grandmother, though I don't know anyone
who has seen the actual legal papers transferring custody.  If anyone knows
the name of Michelle's parents, it might be possible to do some investigating.
 
On the ACO letter, I talked to Lee Wittek a few days ago, and he is an
officer with Carson City Animal Control, but trying to explot his statement
could be legally tricky, for two reasons: first, he is terrified about losing
his job--probably got a pretty stern talking-to from his superiors--and
refuses to answer any questions about it--says he "put his neck on the line"
and got "no support", whatever that means. Since we don't know the
circumstances surrounding the taking of the statement, if we were challenged
regarding its authenticity, we probably could not prove it.
 
Second, if you look closely at the text of his statement, he himself
apparently SAW NOTHING.  It is all hearsay, or at least he is rendering it as
hearsay.  There is nothing to indicate he himself ever participated in the
investigation or talked to any of those involved.  Again, if we were
challenged on the facts, it could prove embarrassing.
 
To James Cristea:
While appreciating your helpfully volunteering to speak the LAST WORD on the
BFF controversy, I must quarrel with your interpretation of the BFF video,
which I also have seen.  The handler was sitting in the middle of the
habitat, and various ferrets came up to him, climbed onto his lap and
shoulder, occasionally appeared to nuzzle him, and allowed themselves to be
gently stroked by the bare-handed handler.  When he picked one up with a hand
under the belly several times, it squirmed but did not in any way make a
serious effort to get away, nor did it make any move to bite.
 
Also, when the ferrets were eating (food that had been left for them), they
lazily ate out of the food bowl, placed about six inches in front of the
entrance to the next box, and lounged lazily half-in half-out of the nest box
while finishing their meal.  This is not smart survival behavior.  You are
right that they are not completely tamed--the handler kept his movements slow
(no surprises!), using caution he would not have needed with a domestic
ferret--but their survival skills have been gravely compromised by having
lived a lifetime without facing threats or learning to avoid them.
 
I am not in a position to say whether they should have been treated this
tamely, though my understandingiwas it was never part of the original scheme
to release the breeders born in captivity.  But at all events, it is not the
ferrets' fault that their natural survival skills have been compromised.
 
Howard Davis
[Posted in FML issue 1222]