FISH AND GAME COMMISSION DESPERATELY WANTS TO AVOID FERRET HEARING.  TELL
THEM TO NOT DUCK THE ISSUE.
 
The California Attorney General's office originally ruled that the Fish and
Game Commission had the authority to remove the ferret from the list of
prohibited wildlife (by finding it a domesticated species).  However, that
opinion was issued in the absence of the regular (read biased) Deputy
Attorney General assigned to deal with Commission matters named Randy
Christison.  Mr. Christison, upon his return, has decided that the
Commission does not have the authority to delist the ferret.  Why?  Because
the ferret appears in the list of prohibited WILDLIFE, therefore, it is
consistent with the statute banning non-native and detrimental WILDLIFE!
Doesn't anyone at the Commission level see something wrong with this
picture?  So, the removal of a single domesticated species from a wildlife
list is inconsistent with the statute banning non-native wildlife, but the
inclusion of a single domesticated species in this wildlife list is not
inconsistent?  This is clearly a very biased opinion and need to be
overruled.
 
Interestingly, it's the same type of thinking that Terry Mansfield (head of
WILDLIFE protection services for the Department of Fish and Game) exhibited
at a recent meeting as an explanation for the department's jurisdiction over
a single DOMESTICATED species.  Mansfield stated that it was clear that the
department was intended to have jurisdiction over the domesticated ferret
because it appears in the wildlife list.  NEVER MIND THAT IT'S A
DOMESTICATED PET!  NO ONE IN GOVERNMENT EVER MAKES A MISTAKE.
 
It is patently clear that the Fish and Game Commission and Fish and Game
Department is doing everything they can to avoid a formal hearing on the
ferret issue.  Why?  Because they know that there will be no place to hide
from the truth-- that the ferret is domesticated, that it clearly does not
belong in that wildlife list, and that people have a right to own them as
pets if they so choose.  The Fish and Game Department first stalled us on
this issue for over a year ago by claiming in November 1995, after the
Commission voted to go to notice, that they could not afford the resources
to produce an environmental document until after May 1st, 1996.  Then they
told us in August that they weren't going to do the document, that we had to
pay consultants to research it (estimated cost between 50,000-150,000).
(The moral equivalent of this request would have been to require Rosa Parks
to conduct, pay for, and submit, a financial impact statement to the Alabama
municipal bus system before being allowed to legally take that front row
seat!
 
In September we heard that DFG will go ahead with the document and have
hearings in February.  Now those hearings are in jeopardy.  These are the
actions of an agency desperately trying to hang on to an issue they should
have let go of years ago.  It criminalizes good people, wastes precious
state resources, and aleinates good people from their government.  Do not
let the Commission or the Department duck this issue by abdicating their
responsibility to you, the good people of California.  Attend the meeting on
October 4th if you can.  Pick up a speaker card and tell the Commission that
they can and should rule.  They do have the authority, and the removal of
the domesticated ferret from this wildlife list is something they must do
now.
 
The meeting begins at 8:30 A.M. on Friday, October 4th, and the AG's opinion
on ferrets is item #19. *** I just spoke with the Executive Director of the
California Veterinary Medical Association, and we are going to try to get a
postponement on the hearing on item #19, but we do not know if we will be
successful.  Please call the commission (916) 653-4899 for an update next
week to see if it is still on the agenda.  If it is, please attend and make
your opinion known.  The address for the hearing is:
 
Hubb Seaworld Research Building
2595 Ingraham Street
San Diego, CA
 
In addition, please write today to the Executive Director of the Commission.
His name is Robert Treanor and he can be reached at:
 
Robert Treanor
Executive Director, California Fish and Game Commission
Box 944209
Sacramento, CA  94244-2090
 
Or, you can fax your letter but make certain it says to the Commission
because the fax is in DFG's building.  Fax number (916) 653-1856.
 
Jeanne Carley
Ferret Legalization Coordinator
[Posted in FML issue 1705]