I visited the Sierra Club's webpage on the effort to block the legalization
of ferrets in California. In response to their page, I sent this email to
the address listed on the page:
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: California Legislative Alert #97-5
>X-Url: http://www.sierraclub.org/chapters/ca/sc-calif-alert/1997/0005.html
>
>To quote your LegAlert #97-5:
>"Though Sierra Club California does not normally become involved pet
>ownership issues, we strongly oppose this bill and urge you to contact your
>representative and ask them to block its passage."
>
>I urge you to reconsider your organization's position on AB 363 and resume
>your typical stance of non-intervention on pet related issues.
>
>Until learning of your position on AB 363, I have always respected the
>Sierra Club as an organization. But now that I find your organization
>has such a clearly uninformed and unfounded stance on the legalization of
>ferrets, I have lost the respect that I did have for the Sierra Club.
>
>Why do I feel that your stance is unfounded and uninformed? Ferrets have
>been domesticated for thousands of years. We know that because ferrets
>are mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman texts. Ferrets have been used
>as working animals for much of that time and so when the Europeans
>crossed the ocean to settle this continent, ferrets as well as cats, dogs,
>and other animals came with them.
>
>For the hundreds of years that ferrets have been on this continent, you can
>only document 1 instance of a feral ferret population which existed on San
>Juan Island in the 1970's. If the average domesticated ferret could
>survive in viable feral populations there would be far more documented
>cases. The fact that you say that you don't have an idea as to the extent
>of feral ferret communities because a study has not been done on feral
>ferrets is a bit ludicrous. For one, there are no populations of feral
>domestic ferrets to study in this country. Secondly, every animal that the
>ferret, if there were feral populations of domestic ferrets, would compete
>with, prey on, or be prey of have been studied. Have any of the biologists
>doing those studies reported feral ferrets? If the answer was yes, you
>would have sited those examples along with the San Juan Island one.
>
>Besides, if a wild, native predator in the same family as ferrets (the
>mustelid or weasel family) like the Black-footed Ferret can not survive
>without human intervention, what makes you think that an animal who has
>been domesticated for thousands of years and has lost many of the skills
>any wild animal would need to survive can successfully live and thrive in a
>wild setting? I am not saying that the rare ferret can not survive in the
>wild. But it would be just that - the RARE ferret.
>
>Ferrets today in the US have even less of a chance of wild survival then
>ferrets in years gone by because most ferrets are now breed for temperment
>and appearance, not hunting skills. Ferrets are also regularly neutered
>prior to sale to the public. Unneutered males are quite smelly and most
>people do not want that smelly of an animal in their house. Unneutered
>females who are not bred will die of anemia. These traits insure that most
>all pet ferrets are sterilized.
>
>Until the Sierra Club changes its stance on AB 363 or similar legislation, I
>will return all solicitations for donations that I get from the Sierra Club
>back to the Sierra Club with a letter of why I am refusing to financially
>support the Sierra Club and their projects. I will also encourage everyone
>I know to also withhold financial support from the Sierra Club until their
>stance on the legalization of ferrets in California changes. Please realize
>that this is not idle talk.
-kim
--
Kimberly Burkard | _ Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company| _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York | ____/ \___/ Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask] |<____/\_---\_\ no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[Posted in FML issue 1951]
|
