The NYC Friends of Ferrets filed their appeal in federal Court on Monday.
The record of the case was 850 pages and the brief by attorney Robert Perry
was 39 pages.  If anyone wants a copy of the brief, I can e-mail it on AOL as
an attached file (please specify format) or regular mail a copy with a SASE
(two stamps please).  NYCFOF is asking that the Appeals Court reverse
District Court Judge Allen G. Schwartz' dismissal and order a trial, as the
facts presented by both sides are in controversy and should be heard by a
jury.
 
We'd  like to thank all the folks -- some on the FML -- who made donations to
the Big Apple Legal Fund.  We collected over $1,000, which definitely helped
defray our expenses.
 
A decision should come this summer.  I'll be sure to post it.  To the anon
poster from Mass. moving to NYC who asked about the current NYC legal status,
here goes:
 
The State of NY issues a license to breed and possess ferrets (for $10 per
year per person), however, NYC does not recognize this license.  While
ferrets are not techically illegal in NYC (that is, there is no law on the
books which mentions the word ferret), the NYC Dept. of Health has taken the
administrative position to include ferrets under a NYC Health Code section
(161.01) which prohibits the keeping of animals which are "wild, fierce,
ferocious or naturally inclined to do harm."
 
Therefore, you cannot legally buy or sell ferrets in NYC because they won't
issue a business license to do so.  While NYC has never enforced this
unpublished prohibition for mere possession of a ferret as a pet, if your
ferret bites anyone and it gets reported to the Health Dept., the City will
demand you surrender your ferret for rabies testing, which necessitates
killing it to test the brain for the virus -- even if you've given your
ferret rabies shots.
 
We challenged this erroneous classification in federal Court, and the denial
of a fair hearing prior to a seizure and rabies testing, claiming it violates
the U.S. constitutional rights of "equal protection" (ferret-owners are
treated differently than other pet-owners) and "due process" (no hearing is
offered prior to confiscation of personal property).  The case is captioned
NYC Friends of Ferrets v. NYC Dept. of Health, et al., 93 civ 6466.
Unfortunately, we got a judge who was a former law partner of Mayor Koch and
used to be a head of the NYC Law Dept., and he dismissed our case, asserting
that City policies are rational and constitutional.  We are appealing the
decision to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
 
If you'd like to help, please make a contribution to help defray our legal
costs to BIG APPLE FERRETS LEGAL FUND, P.O. Box 268 - Gracie Station, NY, NY
10028.  Any qustions, call the BAF hot line (212) 388-8652.  And come to the
Ferret Fiesta in November.  BAF membershp is $15 a year which includes
quarterly newsletter.
[Posted in FML issue 1197]