DFG STILL OPPOSED TO FERRET BILL!  DEPARTMENT DEPUTY DIRECTOR CLAIMS
AMNESTY = LEGALIZATION!
 
Hello everyone,
 
Jan's office just received a four page letter from Kassandra Fletcher,
Deputy Director, which states:
 
"Unfortunately, an amnesty program would result in the complete legalization
of ferrets in California.  If ferret owners were arrested or cited, district
attorneys probably wouldn't bother to prosecute violators because ferret
owners could complain to the judge that their ferret would have been
eligible for the amnesty program but they didn't know about it, and assert
that they would have licensed their ferret if they had known." --some DA's
won't prosecute now!
 
Well, we do believe that this is a first step but the Department's ferret
phobia reaches new heights with this prediction.  So, DFG complains in this
letter of opposition that the ferret amnesty program would be unworkable.
Do they think the current prohibition is?  How about the several hundred
thousand owners already in California?  How about the many law enforcement
officers known to be ferret owners?  We even know some State Leglisators'
families own ferrets.  How many veterinarians or their staff own ferrets?
How many humane workers?  How many Fish and Game wardens???  The ferret ban
is ridiculous, absurd, and the difficulties DFG finds itself in are of their
own making.
 
Rather than admitting the truth, that a domesticated pet does not belong in
a list of prohibited wildlife, the California Department of Fish and Game
prefers to see good people (YOU) criminalized even when this bill has been
amended to burden them (YOU) with licensing and a new bill eventually so
they can create some make-work for a couple of biologists at UC or
elsewhere, and preserve the ego of DFG.  Outrageous!
 
Listen Californians, you do not have much time left to affect the Senate
vote.  It is time to redouble your efforts.  Use this weekend and Labor Day
to get out to pet stores or supermarkets.  Most of you have computers, so
make up flyers and letters of support for the public to sign and send in to
your local Senator.  But you take the initiative!  Provide the envelops,
provide the postage.  MAKE IT EASY AND SPREAD THE WORD TO THE PUBLIC JUST
HOW BAD THIS AGENCY IS, HOW THEY WASTE TAXPAYER MONEY AND HOW THEY HURT GOOD
PEOPLE WHO HAVE SIMPLY CHOSEN ONE DOMESTICATED PET OVER ANOTHER!  The public
deserves to know what DFG does with their money.
 
Don't let this rogue department hurt you or your pets any longer.  You've
got to fight them with everything you have because they have shown that they
will stop at nothing to defeat this bill.  We've seen it all, the lies, the
misinformation, the smoke and the mirrors.  Only your efforts in your
district and with the Governor will make this bill a reality.
 
"Amnesty equates to legalization and legalization threatens native species."
 
This is the kind of inflammatory remark with no basis in fact or science
that Ms. Fletcher sent on to the Senate Appropriations Committee.  Never
mind that all evidence from reliable sources shows that ferrets do not
survive in the wild, never mind that they are a preferred pet to
domesticated cats or dogs in that respect, science will be thrown to the
wind when a bureauracy's ego is at stake.  Listen Californians, take this
opportunity to complain to your State Senator that DFG is outlawing a safer
pet to the environment than cats and is therefore ENDANGERING the
environment!  If 250,000 Californians exercised their right to choose a
ferret INSTEAD of a cat, how many native species would be preserved?
Countless!
 
There's not one documented case of a ferret living in the wild in California
or elsewhere in the U.S.  How many dogs are feral?  How many cats, horses,
goats, pigs, rabbits, sheep, goats, etc?  Your domesticated pet of choice
doesn't survive outdoors yet you are criminalized for having chosen it while
others can own the above pets with impunity.  It's not right, it's got to
change.
 
THE ONLY REASON FERRETS ARE BANNED IN CALIFORNIA IS BECAUSE THEY ARE
MISCLASSIFIED AS WILDLIFE.  OTHERWISE DFG WOULD HAVE NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT
THE MATTER.
 
There's not one documented case of a ferret preying on a native species in
California or the U.S, yet everyone knows the damage cats do.  Did you know
that feral pigs are also a problem?  If DFG really cared about "native
species" they'd do what the rest of the wildlife agencies in the country
have done and quit wasting taxpayer dollars on a housebound domesticated pet
that will starve or be killed outdoors, and isn't within their jurisdiction
anyway.
 
This is ugly government folks and you will need to fight and fight and fight
to see this bill through.  Don't let anyone tell you, "It's a given, or it
will happen." It may very well not.  The success or failure of AB 363 will
depend upon your ACTIVE participation.
 
DFG maintains that the cost of enforcing the licensing provisions and
amnesty program would be significant.  Ms. Fletcher goes on to say that a
warden who discovers a ferret "would be faced with the challenge of
determining whether it is a licensed ferret or not." Well, if the warden has
nothing better to do... Fact is that no police officer stops every car to
see if someone is licensed or not.  That kind of enforcement is absurd.  DFG
does not have to make this hard on themselves, and they probably won't but
to make things look dire for the appropriations committee, that's the kind
of scenario they paint in their letter.
 
And, continuing the misinformation campaign, the Department of Fish and Game
"cannot ignore the risks to our native species that the legalization of
ferret s pose."-- As if there is any fact in this statement.  Ferrets are
not a threat to anything but the ego of some of the folks at DFG.
 
And of course, DFG is perfectly at home IGNORING the simple fact that this
animal is a domesticated pet and doesn't belong in a WILDLIFE statute.
They're very particular in what they chose to ignore: the ferret's
classification as domesticated, the study by the Office of Technology
Assessment documenting no feral ferrets, 50 letters from 50 departments of
Fish and Game documenting no feral ferrets, the California Research Bureau's
report stating that it is highly unlikely that ferrets would go feral....
They even ignore the boundaries of their mandate, which begin and end with
wildlife.  All so they can hound YOU and confiscate your DOMESTICATED PETS.
 
But you are the other thing they choose to ignore.  They want to continue to
criminalize you, California citizens, they folks they work for, when their
behavior in this issue is better described as criminal.  Don't let them get
away with it!  You must get very seriously involved in these last few weeks.
The Senate floor vote will probably be the first week in September so
contact your State Senator now.  If you've already done so, get 50-100
relatives, friends, co-workers to contact him/her as well.  If your State
Senator has pledged his/her support, move on to the Governor.  We will need
all of your letters and more to reach Governor Wilson.
 
It is also critical that you write, call, fax, e-mail, your local paper and
tell them to support ferret legalization.  How many years, how much time,
how many committee hearings, floor sessions, Fish and Game Commission
hearings, paperwork, man hours, etc.  must be spent on this issue before it
is resolved?  And it will not go away.  Not ever.  As long as a domesticated
species is in a wildlife list, we have a problem and it will either be fixed
or just continue to fester.
 
Call your local papers.  Tell them the behavior of this state agency is
despicable and that it is an outrageous abuse of power, waste of taxpayer
funds, and governmental goodwill.  DFG is dead wrong on the ferret issue and
48 states and the rest of the world prove it.  We're not leading the country
we've got our head in the sand and are moving backwards.  Get your own story
into the local media and make it known that DFG has apparently too large a
budget if they can afford to spend so much time on an issue that is none of
their business!
 
I appreciate the many letters and e-mails of support but only your active
participation will carry this bill to the Governor's desk and see it signed
into law.
 
Wish us all luck on Monday.
 
Jeanne Carley
Californians for Ferret Legalization (CFL)
410 Mountain Home Road  Woodside, CA  94062
(415) 851-3750   <[log in to unmask]>
http://www.ferretnews.org-- CFL Website
CALIFORNIANS, YOU CAN FIND OUT YOUR STATE SENATOR BY VISITING THIS SITE!!
IT'S TIME TO CALL AND WRITE YOUR SENATOR AND GOV. WILSON--THE SENATE
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE VOTE WILL HAPPEN AUG. 25th!	
[Posted in FML issue 2043]