All righty then!
 
I'm so irritated right now that I actually stopped eating dinner to come
write this!
 
I subscribe to Jane magazine (well, I used to, I am canceling the
subscription).
 
On the last page of the new issue, the November issue, is the following
question on `DEALWITHIT' page.
 
Q: I live alone in a small apartment, and I'd like some company.  Do
ferrets make good pets?  Or are they really just weasels with a fancy
name?
- Jen, Burbank, California.
 
 The answer was this, word for word.
 
"Devotees rave that ferrets are fur-covered Slinkys who can do no wrong,
but health departments in New York, California and Hawaii (states where it
is illegal to own a ferret) feel that they're just too well-endowed in the
tooth department.  Ferrets are also adept escape artists who can disappear
down a toothpaste tube if you leave the cap off (exaggerating!  I'm
exaggerating!).  And, finally, they're a rabies risk.  Fun!  Now, far more
people get bitten by other people than ferrets, and in the latter case,
there's a new rabies vaccine for ferrets and a cheery set of shots for you
if your little darling decides to sink her teeth into your arm one day.
With all that in mind, here's my big arguement: Why pay pet-shop pimps a
dime for a designer weasel when animal shelters are bursting at the seams
with adorable, adoptable kitties?  Cats are apartment-friendly, generally
don't bite unless you're covered in cat food and will purr you senseless
for getting them off death row.  And best of all, cats can't do that
annoying toothpaste trick."
 
Now, would you like to hear who wrote this obviously educated opinion?
 
Ingrid Newkirk, the cofounder of People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals. Yet one MORE reason to NOT support that group.
 
The email address for Jane magazine is this:
 
 [log in to unmask]
 
Someone with the current rabies statistics for ferrets vs.  cats and dogs,
please enlighten this obviously uneducated woman.  She has no clue what she
is spouting off about in a national magazine.
 
I'd also love to have some shelter operators perhaps enlighten them both on
the numbers of ferrets in shelters due to the disasters, and how you don't
have to buy one at a pet shop!
 
I *hate* it when ignorant people get national forums in magazines, who then
don't bother to fact check.  There's money I sank down the drain.
 
 Julie
[Posted in FML issue 2449]