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  SC Ferret Bite Ruling (November 1995)
  SC Health Dept <I>Saves</I> Ferret, Sets Precedent (November 1995)
  By Eric Sampson
 
[Reprinted from the Spring 1996 edition of THE INDEPENDENT VOICE Copyright
1996 Acme Ferret Company All Rights Reserved]
 
Please locate the chair nearest you and have a seat before you read on.
You'll need it.
 
Tia Bear, a four-year-old female, is still among the living thanks to (found
that chair yet?) the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental
Control and a Horry County judge. On the other side of the courtroom was
a <I>veterinarian</I> who wanted Tia Bear's head after the ferret nipped
her finger during an office visit.
 
"We have some science with us," said Dee Breeden, DHEC's bureau chief.  That
science allows the department to now treat ferrets "like dogs, cats, horses,
and pigs." Thus, South Carolina officials have replaced the blanket
"kill-and-test" order with individual-case consideration and quarantine
periods.  In a memo to health directors, physicians, and environmental
health directors in the district, Breeden notes that as much is known about
rabies in ferrets as is known about the disease in other domestic animals.
 
He notes that the first phase of tests by the Centers for Disease Control
show that ferrets' saliva typically does not shed the rabies virus.  The
memo also states that Breeden will begin working to have ferrets classified
as domestic by the Department of Natural Resources, which currently lists
ferrets as wild.
 
The decision of the South Carolina DHEC can only be described as ground
breaking.  In almost any other state in the country, Tia Bear would've los
her head to the "decapitate-first-and-ask questions-later" mentality that
pervades health and animal control departments.  This little bit of
enlightenment-<I>if promoted and capitalized on-</I>may lead to a safer
future for a lot of house weasels.
 
Tia Bear found salvation in an unlikely ally.  We can only hope that
veterinarian Melissa R.  Webster has found a new career.
 
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[Posted in FML issue 1929]