Dear Jim & readers of the FML,
 
I would think it absurd that the DFG has let loose wild pops. of domestic
ferrets...like you imply it seems counter-intuitive to their mission...but
then again, I am in the field of wildlife, and have heard that DFG is run by
a bunch of idiots.  That is what I have heard, and I have no personal
experience with this, mind you!  So I do not hold this view!  But folks at
my college say that DFG does management action and has protocol based on
very wishy-washy biological information and field data.  Whether this is
true or not I do not know.  It could be just another way for folks to
complain about "us and them" and how those higher up are to blame for
everything wrong in this society!  Whatever the case, I do know that
politics and political action gets very complicated when different agencies
are involved, as each has it's own goals.  If you do in fact find out that
any California agency is releasing ferts into the wild, and that these ferts
are establishing viable, healthy populations...then they are obviously going
to displace another critter eventually...which is the argument I've heard
for black-footed ferrets, but then I looked in my field guide and
black-foots aren't even located on the range maps for California...so who
knows...I've heard a dozen different answers for domestic ferrets being
illegal in California, from a case of a child having his nose bitten off by
one, to the one I just mentioned...displaced, endangered black-footed
ferrets that don't even occur in Calif.  and are endangered because we are
killing of prairie dogs (cheif prey) in their habitats (prairie...bingo!) in
the mid-west!  Judging from these two distinct regions...prairies and
mountains (where you say the domestics are alive and well) I really don't
think they will last long in an area they aren't suited for!  Surely,
domestic cats and dogs have gone wild and live in the hills, but I'm not
sure just how "out of control" they have become!  I have heard one story by
a wildlife prof.  that a single, individual housecat on an island caused the
extinction of a species of bird endigenous to that island...but that is
another story...islands are entirely different from the large range of the
black-foots!  Let me emphasize my point in another manner...when you are
camping, hiking, etc...I bet you see only a few different species of birds
(unless you are a birder) and maybe one or two mammals...deer or
other...well, ever wonder why you don't see more???  I do!  Reason: They
hide, they are damn good at surviving in the wild because every day could be
their last...they are intuned with their senses..hearing, smell,
etc...domestic ferrets are used to an environment where they are provided
food, shelter, warm, water, etc...How are they going to hunt a rodent,
squirrel, rabbit, etc...?  Knowing my ferrets...they would chase the
critters wanting to play with them!  Maybe over time they could evolve with
hunting skills, etc...but I think that it is highly unlikely in the short
and immediete term...domestic ferrets are going to be picked off by preds.
right off the bat!  One careless rustle in the dark and a horned-owl has
dinner!  Anyway, I heard that the DFG is taking ferrets out to the shooting
range and having target practice...It really seems to me that someone could
document this...?  I don't know, do "bad cops" really do drugs and sleep
with prostitutes because they can get away with it with their authority?  As
I have heard, and quite frankly agree with to boot, I think that the DFG has
better things to do than track down how ever many millions of ferts there
are in California!  Sure I want to believe that Calif.  owners are safe from
hastles and confiscations resulting in possible deaths of their beloved
animals...but are we being paranoid here?  No, says the person who spent
thousands of dollars in court and had their babies killed mercillessly.  I
do not know what to believe.  So I simply form my own comfort-zone, and try
not to think about such awful things...I can't watch the news at night, or I
will either get angry or depressed or both and then shake my fist at the
system over and over again...or I could turn a deaf ear like so many of
us...what is the truth?  Is it all perception?  Is there such a thing as
justice?  If we are letting this atrocity occur in California, The Golden
State, with one of the largest pops.  of folks in our country and thus
representing a big chunk of the common good, then are we allowing this to
happen in our own communities as a whole?  Do we do the "see no evil, hear
no evil, speak no evil routine?
 
Sincerely,
 
David Doyle
Wildlife Ecologist
Humboldt State University
[Posted in FML issue 1698]