Welcome Fellow Felons!  Now to the aiding and abetting part of this post...
 
1.  get a good calif. map!  so you know exactly where the ag. station you
must pass thru is (no last second surprises) pack all things 'fuzzy' out of
sight at least 10 miles before the station arrival.
 
2.  Plan to pass thru the station in the evening of a Sunday in your travel
itinerary.  thats when everybody that went anywhere is going home in So.
Cal.  and the stations barely slow down much less stop very car (to do so
would jam traffic back to Hoboken).
 
3.  Place fuzzies in sturdy cardboard box with fluffed blanket or towel and
securely close box, then shove it under 'everything' in the back seat along
with all the other mountain of stuff you will be hauling in the car with
you.  DO NOT HAVE ANY PRODUCE OF ANY KIND IN YOUR CAR OR IN YOUR HANDS!
 
4.  When you pull up to the officer he will ask you 'Do you have any fruit
or vegetables with you?..or Been to Las Vegas?  or any number of such
questions...BUT he will NOT ask you if you have any illegal animals in your
posession...or ask you if your smuggleing in any illegal animals!  It is an
Ag. station checkpoint designed to stop movement of backyard produce and
occassionally catch a car load of illegal aliens (human not fuzzy) but that
is all they are there to do!!!  So relax, smile, and answer perfectly
honestly...'No, Sir'.  and he will wave you thru...if he even does that on a
rush hour Sunday night...likely he will only stop someone with a cooler with
lettuce and strawberries hanging out all over...or somebody munching a huge
peach that still has leaves attached!  And drive on...
 
then about 5 miles further on stop at a station or rest stop and return the
fuzzies to their rightful places...
 
Living in Calif...or the saga of the eternal fugitive...
 
relax...maintain a reasonably low profile...don't take your kids to a pet
adoption day sponsered by the Dog Pound or anything like that...and you will
be fine.... every store here has ferret goodies everywhere and I know of
great local folks that have a store of stuff the stores don't have ..to
share with fellow crimminals...
 
yes it is possible to get hassled here...but there is already a provision
that allows and encourages shipment out of state rather than seisure... and
the authorities have all but quit bugging people even when they do get a
report... they rarely even cite you anymore...
 
when you arrive or before you leave you can e-mail me for a vetrinary list
that is done by city so you will have a great vet already on line (that
would never Rat on you) (sorry mouse and rat persons...a slip there).
 
Housing Agents here just list them as 'cats' (pole) on applications so if
they allow pets you aren't compromised there either..
 
I have lived here a very big bunch of years and my critter family is most
all in the 'NO_NO' catagory and we are just fine...so will you be...
 
any questions...just ask....
 
and plan to meet great ferret folks and join our long long struggle for
FERRET FREEDOM!
 
 welcome one and all!!!  dayna
 dayna frazier   102046,3162
 "Worry is the interest we pay on the trouble we borrow!"
[Posted in FML issue 1557]