>I wrote to the Sierra Club, asking if they could provide any information
>on their official stance as the the legalization of domestic ferrets in
>California.  I wrote to both the main information address, and the
>personal address of the woman in charge of the California area chapter.
>The response I received was that the Sierra Club has NO stance on the
>issue.  I would be interested in finding out where those of you who have
>posted about this in the last few days got the information... Melissa
 
Sadly, the Sierra Club will not take an official stand on ferrets in
Calfornia and they talk out of both sides of their mouth.  I'm not
bad-mouthing them, nor do I want to start a flame war regarding the SC.
I'm simply refering to their stand on our issue and our issue alone and
the political realities involved.  They won't support us on this.
 
They know that by taking a stand on this important issue, they will offend
both sides of our issue.  Their big concern is their ability to raise
money for their coffers.  I attended a political conference in Northern
California a while back, and the State Political Director for the SC was
in attendence.  I took the opporutunity to discuss this issue with him and
he flat out said the SC was opposed to "the introduction of a non-native
species to the habitat here in California".
 
Many of our members will recall the responses we received from the SC from
our inquiries, such as "don't send me any more messages on this" or the
best one I saw was "lose my e-mail address"
 
The fact is, the Sierra Club of California is actively opposed to our
efforts to legalize ferrets here is California, as is the Planning and
Conservation League, and numerous other enviromental organizations.  As
long as we continue to coddle them, and send them money, they will continue
to work against us and our efforts to legalize our pets.
 
BTW- If any of you folks reading this can afford to do so, please send
words of encouragement to Pat Wright in San Diego.  This guy is going to
the mat for all of us and the fact is, any one of us on this list can be
another Pat Wright at any time.  >o<
[Posted in FML issue 2962]