[Copy sent to Ferret Mailing List.]
 
Dear Mr. Irwin and Ms. Lamb,
 
I have to express my utter bewilderment towards recent Human Society of the
U.S. actions regarding both wild, black-footed ferrets and domesticated
ferrets.  On the one hand, the Humane Society has been active in trying to
convince the FWS to reconsider their release program for older black-footed
ferrets.  I highly commend this persuasive effort on behalf of the
black-footed ferret and empirically-rooted evaluation of programs.
 
On the other hand, I find it rather bizarre that a Humane Society official
would support largely unsubstantiated generalizations about domesticated
ferrets on national television.  The portrait of ferrets painted by Rachel
Lamb is of dangerous beasts who can easily turn feral if released.  This
despite the lack of substantiated, published records of high risk of ferret
attacks or of any feral colonies of ferrets in any state of the U.S.  (If
you know of any such published report in a peer-reviewed veterinary journal,
please let me know of the citations.)
 
Ferrets eat meat and thus have sharp teeth.  Rarely, an abused animal will
attack a human.  It is also my judgment that ferrets raised in pet shops are
rarely in great health.  These, however, are *also* true for cats and dogs.
There are many, many more substantiated reports of dog attacks on children
than ferret attacks, and I would hazard a guess that the risk is relatively
greater for dogs.  (Again, if you know otherwise, please let me know of the
citation in a peer-reviewed journal.) Yet the Humane Society does not
recommend making cat and dog ownership illegal in this country, even when
considering the tremendous harm done by and to stray animals.
 
There are reasonable safeguards one can make against the overpopulation of
ferrets or the acquisition of ferrets by ignorant or negligent caretakers.
The simplest would be to make it difficult, if not impossible, for pet
stores to sell meat-eating mammals, and require that all but licensed
breeders in a state neuter meat-eating pets.  This requires neither a total
ban on ferrets in California (or any state) nor the spreading of unconfirmed
rumors on national television.
 
I trust that the Humane Society will, therefore, desist in making
unconsidered judgments about ferrets to reporters.
___________
Sherman Dorn
Vanderbilt University
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[Posted in FML issue 1213]