Honorable Members of the City Council,
We are writing this to make known our support for Councilwoman Freed's bill
for legalization of ownership of domestic "pet" ferrets in the city of New
York.  Although we are not residents of the city, we have had and continue
to have contact with many wonderful people from all over the city who have
adopted from our shelter.  We feel strongly that a GREAT amount of
misinformation has been disseminated about ferrets and would be more than
happy to set the record straight.  The primary complaint the Board of
Health seemed to have is that "Ferrets are viscious and attack children and
infants unprovoked." Perhaps they should have compared the statistics cited
for ferrets with those for dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, and any
number of other "domestic pets" that were NOT banned by their ruling.  They
would find that ANY animal, especially a young animal, can cause damage to
a child.  We would ask you to ask yourself this question, "Would I leave my
baby or young child alone and unsupervised with ANY domestic pet?" The
answer is obvious.  The statistics cited by the Board of Health were based
entirely on UNSUPERVISED situations.
 
We have personally owned one or more ferrets for the last 28 years, and
have never seen one attack anyone or anything unprovoked.  During our
shelter experience we have seen several ABUSED ferrets that would try to
bite, but If we had gone through what they had, we would probably try to
bite too.  So, please look closely at this issue.  You might be surprised
how many ferret owners live in the city.  Now that ferrets are offically
the 3rd most popular pet in the US, the numbers are quite large.  We are
sure you will make the proper decision.
 
Thank you for your time and consideration.
 
Denise & Rick Jackson
KiSta Ferret Rescue North
129 W. Westside Ave.
Red Bank, NJ 07701
732-345-9278
http://members.home.net/rjcc/
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[Posted in FML issue 2778]