A local breeder phoned me today regarding an article she just read in the
January 1995 issue of Cornell University College of Medicine's Animal Health
Newsletter.  According to her (I haven't seen it yet), the blurb on the cover
reads "Risk Associated With Owning Ferrets" while the accompanying article's
title reads Not Everyone Has Fallen For Ferrets.  A footnote to the article
said that it was based on a report written by Dr. Suzanne R. Jenkins,
Virginia Department of Health, Office of Epidemiology, Suite 113, P.O. Box
2448, Richmond VA 23218.
 
My "anonymous source" read the article to me over the phone.  From what I
could tell, it sounded like the same old misinformation we've heard before:
never get a ferret if you have young children; vaccinated ferrets still get
rabies; etc.
 
Has anyone else seen this article?  Has anyone read Dr. Jenkins' report?  Can
anyone send either/both to me, or better yet, post them on FML for all of us
to see?
 
I wrote a letter to Dr. Jenkins this evening asking for a copy of her report,
mentioned that I publish a ferret newsletter here in Omaha, and would like
her permission to quote the report "if I feel that some of the information
would be of value to my subscribers."
 
My main concern here is that ferrets are not on the City of Omaha's approved
list of domestic/pet animals.  Although the City has better things to do with
its resources than round up carpetsharks, the City Prosecutor (who admitted
that he both lives in the city and owns a ferret, and therefore would decline
to prosecute anyone on the vague code) recommends that we urge the City
Council to add ferrets to the list.  Certainly someone will object and I'm
concerned that they might present this article/report as recent evidence to
back their position.
 
Of course, the implications to the rest of you around the country are pretty
clear with regard to fallout from a recently published article.  (Could this
possibly generate even more indignation than the GMA piece that eventually
never happened?)
 
Lee Donehower
Omaha NE
[Posted in FML issue 1066]