Re Franklyn County:  Everywhere in the country that ferrets are banned as
pets, they ARE allowed as research animals (everywhere I know of, that
is).  So the vet school probably does have them.
 
The problem I see at this point with getting the rabies quaranteen period
work done is that nobody wants to do it (no research company, no drug
company, etc).  No matter how much money you raise, it won't get done
unless someone wants to do it.  The reason no one wants to do it, so I'm
told, is that with the vaccine out, the quarantine period is unnecessary.
The problem comes down to this; rabies in ferrets is a POLITICAL and not a
medical issue.  No matter HOW much is known about rabies in ferrets,
politicians who want to ban them will find some excuse to do so.
 
The Llama people really did raise that much money.  There aren't, indeed,
a lot of llamas, but considering how much land, feed, import and stud fees
and all you need to keep and raise llamas, you can see that the llama
people simply have more MONEY than ferret people do.
 
[Especially when a known-good breeding female Llama can run you $18K or
more...]
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0152]