The Massachusetts Ferret Friends sent this press release out over the wires
and faxed to the Michigan newspapers:
 
Massachusetts Ferret Friends, Inc.
Sharon Burbine,  President: (617) 224-1098
Lee McKee, Clerk: (617) 782-4712
 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                   6 June 1997
 
 
KODO RULING THREATENS ALL PETS: Michigan Appeals Court to Consider Whether
To Subject All Household Pets to Euthanasia for Rabies Testing; Misuse of
Public Health Protection Funds Charged
 
 
BOSTON, Mass.  -- The Massachusetts Ferret Friends today blasted Michigan
prosecutors and a judge for their attempts to kill Kodo, a pet ferret.
"There's no rational or scientific basis for such a penalty," said Sharon
Burbine, the head of the ferret owner's group.  "This is a blatant example
of government gone wrong."
 
Kodo, the Saginaw, Mich., ferret still on Death Row after 37 days has pet
owners in other states worried -- worried not only about the fate of that
particular ferret and its heartbroken family, but about the fate of their
own pets if a judge's ruling is allowed to stand.
 
"Following the ruling to its logical conclusion," Burbine said, "any pet in
Michigan -- dog, cat or ferret -- would be subject to seizure to be killed
and tested for rabies, on any pretext."
 
The case, now before an appeals court, is whether to euthanize and test for
rabies a ferret (Kodo) that had been on display at a Pet Education Day in
Saginaw.  An elderly gentleman petted Kodo and accidentally scraped his
finger on the ferret's tooth -- the ferret did not bite the man.  Kodo, a
children's pet, has been confined at a pound for over a month, while its
case was presented before Judge Caprathe in Saginaw.
 
Judge Caprathe ruled that the ferret should be killed and tested for rabies
because of the slim possibility that it might have been infected with rabies
by an unobserved bat, even though the ferret might not have exposed anyone
to rabies, and even though the ferret had been vaccinated against rabies.
 
This ruling came in spite of testimony and evidence from government studies
that ferrets are a low risk for contracting rabies and that if infected,
they die of the disease shortly after showing signs of the disease and
shedding the virus in their saliva.  Further, no bat had been found in the
ferret's household, and the ferret never showed signs of bites, wounds, or
rabies infection.
 
"I can't think of a public health agency in any other state has endorsed
killing an animal for rabies testing without evidence of rabies exposure,
just to see whether it is infected, " continued Burbine, who is a former
animal control officer.  "Such a test would be inconclusive, and a wasted
expense.  Until this ruling, the issue has always been whether a person was
exposed to rabies."
 
"If I were a pet owner in Michigan, I would be very worried," Burbine said.
"The judge has given the green light for killing and testing any animal for
rabies because of the chance that a bat could have bitten it without the
owner's knowledge.  That could be any animal -- dog, cat, or ferret --
whether or not it had been vaccinated against rabies, and whether or not it
had been involved in a bite incident."
 
Some observers in Michigan have questioned whether taxpayer dollars should
continue to be spent on the case of one ferret.  Burbine pointed out that
the rabies tests are very expensive to conduct, "to say nothing of the human
costs inflicted on the owners of these animals.  This is an important test
case, made more urgent by the wording of the judge's ruling."
 
Over 400 ferrets have been killed and tested for rabies in Michigan in the
last past 18 months, and none have been found to be rabid.
 
Burbine pointed to her own state's policy on bite incidents.  "Massachusetts
and other states have found a less expensive and more effective way of
guarding the public health than the indiscriminate killing-and-testing of
pets."
 
In Massachusetts, dogs, cats, and ferrets involved in biting incidents are
quarantined at the owner's expense, and in the owner's home, for 10 days.
 
"The rabies situation in Massachusetts is no less serious than in Michigan,"
Burbine pointed out.  "We've got it in our own bat and raccoon populations
here.  However, our public health officials looked at the scientific
evidence and concluded that the public is better served by observing a live
animal than by killing it, and by putting the money saved [from rabies
testing] into education and prevention."
 
                                        = [] =
 
END RELEASE
[Posted in FML issue 1959]