Clips:
>I have spoken to Dr. Mellisant Eidson, New York State public health
>veterinarian regarding the handling of ferrets involved in bite cases.
>... Although these copies have been sent, the law still stands as is: Kill
>& Test.
>Apparently the law will not change until there is a state legislator willing
>to sponsor a new bill.
 
MANY THANKS to SP at [log in to unmask] for this important heads-up!
Apparently when I received the letter from Dr. E. she was unaware of one
heck of a major stumbling block!  Will pass this exceedingly important
information on to the individuals on my quarantine information list by
e-mail or postal mail so it can be attached to the N.Y. letter.  (Two do
not have reliable e-mail so those go by snail mail.)  New York was already
on the list for following up because she'd written that she expected things
to go through some time this month so we wanted to know when and if, but we
figured it would be after the fact!  Sorry to hear this news.
 
There are some very good resources out there from Troy Lynn, Dick Bossart,
and the AFA on ways to get such legislation through.  Both Dick and Troy
Lynn are on this list and I have their e-mail addresses, and I can get you
the contact numbers you need for the AFA from Diane Rogers (or someone else
here can post the AFA's 800 number (PLEASE!) since I don't have it).
 
The vet directory has not yet arrived.  Supposedly that has all the relevant
people listed (At $90 it had better.) so then I can put that list on the
FML, but in the meantime anyone can call their Health Departments and track
down the right people to ask.  Please, do so.  It won't step on anyone's
toes, it may give us all some useful names and addresses in states which
haven't replied or need follow-ups, and it may uncover a problem which was
not earlier known.  (Hopefully, we've heard the only one of those with N.Y.,
though.)
 
Again, thanks so much; this well illustrates why it is essential that people
follow-up with their own states and why they should get back to the FML (and
also to me directly, please) if things turn out to be at all different.  I
suspect that it's probably just plain been so very long since any state had
to include a new animal in the quarantine rules that some just don't know
what is invloved and may respond before checking well.  Hope it's only one
or two.
 
We are not helped by thinking things are EITHER too good (since folks may
get careless then) or too bad (since I have unofficially heard that some
state vets/epidemiologists are waiting to see first what their peers do
before they move on this).  We are ALL helped when problems such as this one
SP found are tracked down, reported well, and tackled!
 
with gratitude,
Sukie
(Oh, something of an opps on my part -- I said something like "know you're
a ferret person" when the phrasing instead involves "addicted to ferrets".
That's what I meant in the fun note about what Steve puts up with...)
[Posted in FML issue 2187]