WARNING!!
 
Disturbed by the recent incident in NJ, I called the Massachusetts Fish and
Wildlife Dept. and described that incident to their Ferret authority.  He
made no comment.  When I asked what the position was of the MA authorities,
he said "there is no proof that the vaccine really works".  In other words,
their official position is that a ferret can be up to date on it's
vaccinations and still have rabies!
 
He suggested that I not let anyone touch my ferrets, particularly a child.
If anyone reports a bite, F & W will confiscate and kill ALL my ferrets on
the assumption that they are all infected.  NO QUARANTINE PERIOD!  This is
not an idle threat.  He related an incident, reported here earlier, where 23
ferrets were confiscated and killed in MA because of a single bite.
 
I then called Kelleen who told me that the laws vary from state to state and
the only way to be sure of the policy in any state was to check it
individually.
 
If you don't know the policy in your state, by all means, call and find out.
If, like MA, there is no quarantine period, please be very careful about
letting anyone touch one of your pets.  It takes only one complaint to have
them all confiscated and killed.  The first person to get this information
in each state could post the information on the FML to aid others.
 
Of course this policy is illogical.  Why kill all of them because one migh t
have rabies?  Even if they confiscated them all and killed the one for
testing, then released the others if the one was clean it would make some
sense.  I will contact the ferret group in MA and look into how we can
change this terrible policy.  You could do the same in your state.
 
After a long campaign, ferrets were just made legal in Massachusetts, but
must be 12 weeks old with all their first year shots before they can enter
the state.  This must be based on the assumption that the vaccines work.
How can F & W in the same state claim there is no proof that the vaccines
work.  The left hand lets them in and the right hand kills them!
 
Mary Cohen
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[Posted in FML issue 1602]