Re: Ferrets illegal on military bases
Sorry to hear about your situation. You might want to have a friend off base
hang onto your buddy for awhile (and visit plenty) until you can convince
whoever made the rule to change it back. It would be a tragedy if your buddy
was destroyed.
 
Re: BFFs (to Jessica, Justine, and Hal)
I do understand your concerns, but I haven't come to your same conclusion
that the old BFFs should be released.  First of all, even if the old BFFs
could reproduce, they wouldn't have a chance because they'd all be dead
(the 14 released on June 5th all died within a few days).  If they are
dead, they can't reproduce, and the older gene pool won't help the species
survive.  In captivity, I would hope that if they had cancer and started to
suffer that they would be humanely euthanized.  (I would prefer to be
quietly put down than eaten alive with some beast 20 times my size ripping
my limbs off etc.).  If it were more a fair fight and they could run like a
2-3 year old that would be fine,but these guys are slow,can't see due to
cataracts, have broken teeth, etc.  I don't think anyone is trying to make
BBFs pets or love them to extinction, but rather prevent them from
suffering when they don't stand a chance against the coyotes.  It would be
ideal to have a facility where the BFFs could have like an acre of land
with little tunnels and everything else they need, but have it enclosed so
predators would be kept out.  And if there were some way to make the
facility so that people could watch the BBFs, we could educate the public
about the BFFs (and all endangered animals in general) and help increase
public appreciation for them.  This might even increase public
contributions to the breeding program.  If you saw the videotape from
Carolyn Kinsey, then you should have seen that those older animals were not
aggressive, and more importantly, not afraid of anything.  We have raised
them in captivity and robbed them of a normal life for 4-5 years.  They are
not prepared for what faces them in the wild (mentally, physically, or
socially).  I completely respect your opinion, but I don't follow your same
train of thought and have not reached your conclusion.
 
Sincerely,
Katrina Ramsell
[Posted in FML issue 1237]