Warp just showed me a brown face with some albino showing through and dirt
on an eye so I took a break to clean her up and wash out the eye at the
kitchen sink spray hose, and was reminded of something.  In a special on the
building of New York's subways we learned that those who removed dirt from
tunnels were called Muckers, and those who dug were called Sandhogs.
Potential ferret names there.  (BTW, most of the Sandhogs were African
Americans and the sandhogs were the highest paid of the tunnel makers so we
think that's neat, and kind of like Native American high steel workers.
 
Oh, speaking of such things -- I don't think Jean meant meant to disparage
any of our ancestors; I think she was looking for how to most effectively
come back if F&G folks called ferrets "exotic imports", though I must admit
that the way the post was written made me jump at first, too, so I had to
cool down and reword before I wrote her.  Hey, Bob, you forgot the
ringtails, peppers, tomatoes, concept of zero, in at least one culture a
more logical number base system for many problems than one based on our
usual number of fingers, and so much more!
 
I must agree with those who want to keep the ferret fight separate from that
for other exotics because of a reason not mentioned here; the nebulous
wording "exotic" might be extended to include animals which should NOT be
kept as pets -- primarily for the animals' sakes though human health reasons
do exist.  This includes not only critters which are threatened by capture
for sale (in some cases MOST threatened by that activity), but also some
which require conditions that almost no one can provide.  I am too familiar
from past professional experience with the fact that typically over 20
Lagothrix monkeys die for each one which reaches captivity, that the
survivor is usually kept in conditions which are mentally unhealthy and
physically terminal, and their deaths usually come early, commonly within 5
instead of decades later.  (Anyone who wants to continue that thread should
do it OFF the list since it is non-topic, but I'm just going to ignore
anything from anyone who considers species ownership greed more important
than the animals' welfare.) The reason I gave the example is to show how
badly the ferret fight, which HAS made important inroads, could get bogged
down and discredited if it is tied into such a nebulous approach.  There is
no reason why other groups which have other non-usual pets (suited to being
pets and not taken from the wild) for California can't follow on the coat
tails in targeted fights.  We aren't wild about California itself (sorry --
it's just a quirk), but there may come a time when there is a project there
which is as intersting as some Steve has already turned down for the sake of
our ferrets.  If that happens we certainly would like having the ability to
move there.
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 1848]