CDFA has been looking for evidence or stories about DFG wrongdoing.
 
To me, the ultimate story is those tales of feral ferrets I kept hearing
about while in SF.  I recieved two very credible eyewitness tales of local
animal control officers from SF and Marin treating ferrets as wild animals,
just like DFG says, and *releasing* them into Marin, south of Petaluma
somewhere near 101.
 
Can you imagine the egg on DFG's collective noggins if their lies re:
ferrets being wild caused exactly what they feared: feral ferts?
 
This coming Saturday morning, I'm gonna contact Animal Control agencies in
Marin, SF and San Mateo in person, find out who's been there the longest,
and see if they'll admit any such past blunders; after all, the real blunder
was on DFG's part and I don't think this continued past circa 1988 or so.
After that, I'm gonna start asking Marin farmers and other rural locals
about wild populations, using color photocopies of the Ferret Calendar
models as comparison.
 
All I've got so far is stories, tales and rumors...but by god, what if
they're true?  Has anyone else heard stories like this, from anywhere in
California?  I heard these tales while taking ferts out in public, something
I've possibly done more often than any other Califerreter.  There's supposed
to be another cluster of this sort down near Gilroy, placed there by San
Jose, per one rumor.
 
But I'm concentrating on Marin.  Anyone else wanna go on a "wild fert chase"
and pin this down, mostly by talking to Marin farmers and such this weekend?
We can meet somewhere Sunday Morning, make a day of it.  One guy I met
swears he followed a SF Animal Care and Control van right to the Marin
release site ten years ago.  No guarantees we'll find anything, but the
dynamite if we do!  Including media coverage!
[Posted in FML issue 1695]