Hello everyone,
 
In today's paper(July 18th) San Mateo County Times, there is an article
about attorney Joe Kouri's visit to the Menlo Park office of the Department
of Fish and Game with his ferret Winston in tow.  Mr. Kouri filed a lawsuit
on behalf of all ferret owners in California some years back but the suit
was dropped when the Fish and Game Commission voted to go to notice and
publish their intent to change the statute banning ferrets.  Kouri has
stated in the past that ferret owners were prejudiced when the Attorney
General's office (represented by Randall Christisson, leg counsel for the
Department of Fish and Game, surprise, surprise) stepped in to block the
publication of that notice stating that the Commission did not have the
authority to remove animals from the list.  (The statute reads, "the
following wild animals are prohibited......as determined by the Commission.
Plain english never has been the forte of the DFG, or of Mr. Christisson, or
of anyone with an unconstitutional agenda.)
 
According to the article, Kouri said, "Today, I want to be Rosa Parks, I
want to refuse to move to the back of the bus." The article went on to say
that he wanted DFG officials to arrest him so he could challenge the law
forbidding ferrets.  But, according to the writer, DFG staffers were "more
interested in cooing over Winston thatn they were in handcuffing Kouri.
"He's so cute," repeated a number of employees, peering into Winston's pet
cage." -- I loved that part!
 
No one from DFG appeared to arrest Kouri and the interviewer called the
county Sheriff's office and spoke to the sherrif who "shrugged his shoulders
at the idea of citing a ferret owner.  "We have better things to do,"" the
Sherrif said.-- I loved this part too, though I counsel ferret owners in San
Mateo country to still keep their critters under wraps.
 
The article ends with a quote from Kouri, "Where does government
interference end?  If they refuse to arrest me, they should admit they have
no jurisdiction to ban ferrets and they should leave the animals alone."
 
Sounds like a good idea to me.
 
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
CALIFORNIANS, YOU CAN FIND OUT YOUR ASSEMBLYMEMBER AND STATE SENATOR BY
VISITING THIS SITE!! IT'S TIME TO CALL AND WRITE YOUR SENATOR--THE FIRST
COMMITTEE VOTE WILL HAPPEN SOON!
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For pure ferret fun, check out http://www.ferretcalendar.com
[Posted in FML issue 2007]