Hello everyone,
 
I spoke with Dr. Mark Starr of the California Department of Health Services
today for about an hour going over my comments on the compendium.  I didn't
know if he would personally read his e-mail so I called to express my
concerns and disappointment in the compendium's language discrepancies
between dogs/cats and ferrets.  Dr. Starr firmly believes that there is no
bias within the compendium.  He asked that some of the clarifications he
made to me be passed along and I told him I would do so.
 
Regarding phrasing the quarantine as "optional" and "possible" instead of
as a straight recommendation, Dr. Starr said that the absence of these
qualifiers in reference to dogs and cats is because it is common knowledge
among health officers that they do have the discretion to kill and test.
In other words, all decisions to quarantine are "optional," even for dogs
and cats.  If that is the case, I asked him, why not construct the ferret
recommendation in the same manner, knowing that health officers already
realize that they have this discretion?  His reply was that because this
was new information, efforts were made to make the compendium as clear as
possible.
 
Listing the option for quarantine first for dogs and last for ferrets was
not, he contends, intentional.  Dr. Starr felt it was simply because the
previous recommendation for ferrets was euthanasia and quarantine was simply
added on.  I told him this was misleading, and is a red flag to ferret
owners.  Given the history of DHS it appears as a preference.  He suggested
that the compendium could be revised to make this change.
 
As far as the compendium's language offering a "green light" to those health
officers to kill and test regardless of the option for quarantine, Dr. Starr
believes that health officers will quarantine ferrets and that those with
any questions will, given the political climate, call Sacramento where,
according to Dr. Starr, an evaluation of the situation will take into
account everything from the animal's behavior, vaccination status, possible
exposure to rabies, location of the bite to the person, etc., before a
decision is made to opt out of quarantine.  Dr. Starr believes it will be
uncommon for a ferret is euthanized for biting in California given the new
compendium.
 
I asked Dr. Starr if he felt California health officers had any knowledge
of normal ferret behavior and he suggested that if they don't, they can
call Fish and Game.  That, I told him would be a serious mistake.  I have
never seen any evidence that DFG knows much about domesticated ferrets,
behaviorally or otherwise.  Even something as simple as their basic
construction eludes them.  Recently a senior DFG wildlife biologist on a
televised debate said that one of the reasons that DFG was against our
bill, even with a spay/neuter clause, was that unlike dogs and cats, one
couldn't "pick up a male ferret and determine if it were neutered."
Needless to say, that piece of misinformation was cleared up for the
program's viewers.
 
I also suggested that "strays" be considered "claimed" and would be best
quarantined with someone from ferret rescue who does have a very good idea
about normal ferret behavior.  He suggested that a letter be written to the
department and to the California Animal Control Association with that offer.
It will save time and management expenses on the part of animal control and
will mean that the animal is quarantined with someone who knows ferrets.  If
the animal is healthy at the end of the quarantine, that same individual
will make the necessary arrangements to ship the animal out of state.  I
suggest that the appropriate person at CDFA contact the Health Department
and the California Animal Control Director's Association (CACDA), to make
this offer formally for "home quarantine" by an authorized ferret rescuer.
It will still be at the discretion of the health officer or animal control
but some, especially animal control, will surely take advantage of the offer.
 
Dr. Starr was dismayed that my comments implied that the Department wasn't
to be trusted.  I told him he needed to consider the context.  I told him
that context affected how a Jew during the Warsaw ghetto perceived something
as simple as a knock at the door.  No one at that time and in that location
would simply open up and say, "Yes?" California ferret owners feel they are
under siege.  The true nature of their pets has been completely and
intentionally misrepresented by two state agencies.  The outright lies told
by both departments has meant a very heartwrenching, very protracted effort
by ferret owners to legalize a domesticated pet that should never have been
banned in the first place, and is a safer pet to people than a dog and safer
pet to the environment than a cat!  The decades long battle has seen ferrets
killed unnecessarily, separated from the people who love them, and many good
people have been fined, some even jailed.  Simply put, ferret owners and
their pets have been persecuted in California.
 
In fairness to Dr. Starr, I believe he is sincere, and I very much hope he
is right.  But my concerns will stand until the state demonstrates its
intentions by actions, not by words.
 
Jeanne Carley
Californians for Ferret Legalization (CFL)
410 Mountain Home Road  Woodside, CA  94062
(415) 851-3750   <[log in to unmask]>
http://www.ferretnews.org-- CFL Website
[Posted in FML issue 2298]