(Well, not exactly a retraction, but a clarification.)
        [Sorry for the length of this, but I felt it neccessary to avoid any
public flame wars. I thank those of you who chose to flame me in private mail
for taking that avenue to do so. The less negative postings in the FML, the
better. I hope this will suffice as a response to your heated words.]
        First of all let me try to smooth over a few ruffled furries... The
article I refered to was not actually an article, but the cover sheet for the
STAR survey I received.  It did not come from L.I.F.E. or A.F.A.  I have always
had the highest regard for L.I.F.E. and the fine publication they produce.  I
want to make that clear to all of the member clubs of L.I.F.E. I am sorry if
this misunderstanding caused any undue friction between us.
 
To quote the opening sentance of the cover sheet in question:
 
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture has opened an investigation into the
reports of reactions in ferrets that are injected wit Fervac-D ferret distemper
vaccine"
        Our offices called the USDA and were told that no such investigation
was being conducted by the USDA. Perriod. I'm fully aware that they do take an
interest in all adverse reactions drugs. That's their job. But they are not
conducting the investigation themselves. If they were theye would be no need
for STAR or anyone else to go to the expense to do a survey.
Now as for the survey itself-
        If I read Ann's breakdown of the data collection process correctly,
(which I have no quarrel with- it was well thought out) All forms which didn't
have the name of the respondent on them were discarded. Yet the instructions
state that "If you vaccinate your own animals and wish to remain anonymous,
please just fill in the city and state where you live."
        Also, they included TWO copies of the questionnaire  with the mailing.
One was to be returned to star for compilation into the databas, the other was
to be sent directly to the USDA. Since the results of the survey are being
provided to the UDSA, wouldn't this tend to confuse the results? Further on,
they say that "Even if you've filled out one of these for STAR* before, we ask
that you do it again, since you may have vaccinated more ferrets since we
initially sent out this survey." Forgive my apprehension but wouldn't this
duplicate data?
        I do retract my admonition to disregard the survey. I was reacting to
the perceived ambiguities mentioned above. I think the survey itself is
well-designed and should be responded to. It's the seemingly confusing
instructions I found objectionable. I know how it feels to have people tell
others not to participate in a project. The NDF Census was a partial failure do
in part to this. I received a few responses to the census stating that they
were sending it in despite their being told that it wouldn't do any good to
fill it out , that is was a waste of their time and postage.  I can only guess
where this admonition came. One respondent was from a FFZ, the other was from a
recently legalized state. Apparently, i had stepped on the toes of someone
whose word was looked upon as gospel and who had already run a survey (with
different mechanics) and had the definative answer to the population question.)
 Be that as it may... the Census was, by and large.. a bust. I'm sorry some
people have to let their petty differences get in the way of a good cause. We
did receive over 650 responses and will still compile the data and distribute
it to anyone who still has an interest.
 
[soapbox mode off]
 
Roger McMillian
 
[Posted in FML issue 0725]