Hello Everyone!
 
Eric and I made it into NYCity for City Council Member Kathryn Freed's
press conference (we had to get up at 6:45AM -- not easy for us notoriously
late-night folks, so if I write anything incoherent it's just because I'm
a little tired now :-).  Perhaps the oddest thing was the presence of the
police -- you'd think we were lion owners instead of ferret owners.  There
were a bunch of uniformed and plain-clothed police (actually there were
more police than ferret owners!).  Luckily only three ferrets showed up --
and were quickly whisked away to safety before the police could confiscate
them (just before the press conference started, a woman from Ms Freed's
office told us that they were told that the ban would be enforced -- which
would mean that ferrets would be confiscated).  Being responsible for
getting one of the ferrets to safety, I can say that I don't know that I've
ever been so frightened.  I suppose the fear was compounded by the fact
that it wasn't my ferret (it was actually Splash -- the ferret that goes
on "Martha Stewart Living" with Marc Morrone).  Scary stuff.  But the
important thing is that the ferrets got to safety and the press conference
went on without them.  (Not that it wasn't fine as it was, but the fuzzies
would have been a nice touch.)
 
There weren't a lot of ferret owners there (there were more at the hearing
back in the spring), but I suspect that's probably because it was a weekday
and I'm not even sure if a lot of people knew about it.  Eric and I figured
we'd go in to show our support & get a couple of photos for the magazine
(we live on Long Island, so our ferrets are not affected by the NYC ban).
Basically, Council Member Kathryn Freed announced her legislation that
would make ferrets legal in NYC (overriding the Dept of Health regulation
that now bans ferrets).  Kudos to Ms Freed, Luis Baritz, & Marc Morrone
for all making a great impression.  Kudos also to Melissa who made up and
handed out a bunch of flyers to people passing by (see the NYC website at:
http://members.aol.com/NYCFerrets for updates on the legislation).  I'm not
sure if any of the reporters caught up with Gary Kaskel, who was not able
to be there because he had to leave to protect his ferrets.  (I commend him
for putting his ferrets first -- but then again he loves them, which is why
is so involved with this issue.)
 
So far no hearing date has been set for the legislation.
 
Hugs to all the fuzzies,
 
Mary & Eric (The People)
Sabrina, Marshmallow, Knuks, Trixie, Bosco da Gama, Balthazar, Cauliflower,
Koosh, & Gabrielle (The Ferrets)
Modern Ferret magazine
www.modernferret.com
[Posted in FML issue 2800]