Hello everyone,
 
It is important for the ferret issue to receive the kind of coverage it
deserves.  Clearly, the position of the Department of Fish and Game and
Health Services has been well articulated in the news media since day one,
while our reasons for promoting ferret legalization (the decriminalization
of thousands of good people, correct classification of the ferret as
domesticated, abuse of goverment authority, waste of taxpayer dollars etc.)
has barely been covered.
 
Take for instance these excerpts from the LA Times article that appeared
today:
 
"In the Assembly, legislators approved the ferret bill by a surprisingly
wide 59-7 margin despite opposition from state health officials and the
Department of Fish and Game where officials fear ferrets-- a nonnative
species-- will escape from their owners, become wild and cause havoc to
native animals."
 
"This is a rotten, dirty little rat and we ought to kill this bill and every
ferret we can get our hands on, " Assemblyman Richard Floyd
(D-Wilmington)said.
 
Proponents of the ferret bill responded that it was a matter of freedom.
 
"If you're going to take people's rights away, you'd better have some reason
for it," said Assemblyman jan Goldsmith (R-Poway), the bill's author.
 
The ferret, native to Europe, was imported mainly to hunt rabbits.  Hunters
would send the long narrow-bodied creature down rabbit holes to chase
rabbits out.  With one exception of a subspecies, the ferret is one of a
long list of animals not native to the United States that California will
not allow to be imported."
 
Californians, please read this section again!  Where do you see any
information about the documented ABSENCE of feral ferrets in the United
States?  Where do you see any information that the other 48 states and the
rest of the world are right and California is wrong?  Reading this article
makes one think we're doing the right thing.  After all, the ferret isn't
native to this country (well, neither are dogs, cats, horses, goats or other
domesticated pets) and our "officials" fear that it will cause havoc!  Has
the Times been balanced in this article?  Absolutely not!  They take the
"concerns" of a couple of State Agencies at face value and do not present
facts from CDC, Journal of the American Medical Association, Pacific
Research Institute, other State Departments of Fish and Game....... In other
words, they present the completely unvalidated views of these State Agencies
while ignoring third party research from other states, other agencies, other
organizations who aren't even a party to this piece of legislation--- THAT
IS NOT JOURNALISM!!
 
Please e-mail or write the editor of the LA Times to complain that
apparently the LA Times does not care about a balanced look at the reasons
for this bill (since they haven't presented our facts).  Tell the editor
that the only reason this bill is necessary is because DFG made a mistake 63
years ago when they put the DOMESTICATED ferret in a WILDLIFE list.  Tell
her it should not be surprising at all that the vote was overwhelming.  Tell
the editor that what is surprising is that the LA Times apparently doesn't
consider the jailing of a young ferret owner for something as innocent as
owning a ferret a serious violation of the ethics of good government!
 
Please have your friends and family write letters to:
 
Mary Cox
Editor, LA Times
Mirror Square
Los Angeles, CA  90053
[log in to unmask]
 
Jeanne Carley
Californians for Ferret Legalization
410 Mountain Home Road  Woodside, CA  94062
(415) 851-3750   <[log in to unmask]>
http://www.ccnet.com/~beisners/gsfs/lobby.html
CALIFORNIANS, YOU CAN FIND OUT YOUR ASSEMBLYMEMBER AND STATE SENATOR BY
VISITING THIS SITE!! IT'S TIME TO CALL AND WRITE YOUR ASSEMBLYMEMBER--THE
FLOOR VOTE WILL HAPPEN SOON!
 
[Moderator's note: The Times just picked up the story from the news wires -
this one looks like the UPI feed.  Maybe it's UPI we should hound as well?
BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1959]