Chris, I copied this out of the Boston Magazine, as usual, could you keep me
anonymous?  I sent this back in April but never saw it make this list so I
assume that you didn't get it.
 
[I didn't]
 
Dixie is doing well.  Every morning I give her a treat (usually linatone or a
drop of milk) while I'm making my lunch, but I make her roll over or sit up
for it.  Now if I'm in the kitchen doing dishes or whatever, I'll sometimes
notice her frantically doing her tricks without any prompting in an attempt
to get a snack.
 
*****************************************************************************
 
 
        "F" is a man living outside the law.
        His crime?  Nicky and Stinky, two four-pound ferrets.
        Nicky, Stinky, and their ilk are the center of a small but intense
controversy: Should the ferret-a mink-sized carnivore descended from the
polecat-be legalized as a pet in Massachusetts?
        Yes, says Bruce Deane White, an Assonet ferret lover who started a
ferret rescue center about two years ago and last year placed 40 ferrets in
out-of-state homes.
        "They're a lot of fun," White says. Pokey, his favorite ferret, climbs
his leg and licks his nose when White returns home from work.  (He has a
license that allows him to keep ferrets for educational purposes.)
        No, says Walter Kilroy, director of law enforcement for the
Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  Ferrets
should remain outlaws.  Kilroy worries that non-animal lovers will buy the
ferrets for their exotic cachet and soon tire of them.  Kilroy, who has seen
ferrets selling for as little as $29.95, imagines an army of abandoned
ferrets rampaging through the state.
        Ferret advocates talk of the animals' intelligence, sense of fun, and
devotion to humans.  Ferret foes tell of the creatures' documented attacts on
infants, their susceptibility to rabies, and their powerful, musky, stink.
        Ferrets are legal in most states.  But Bay State ferret owners risk a
fine of at least $50 and up to 30 days in prison (although no one has ever
done time).  Owners dread the midnight knock on the door by the ferret cops,
the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
        Tom French, the division's assistant director for nongame and
endangered species, says his agency would "seriously consider" supporting
pro-ferret legislation if a rabies vaccine were available.  (The word in
ferret circles is that one might be available this spring, although French is
skeptical.)
        Meanwhile, an estimated 2,000 ferrets are at large as pets in
Massachusetts.
 
[As the myths have been debunked here before (infant attacks, rabies), I
won't bother now.  Other than to point out that the US *has* recently
certified a rabies vaccine for ferrets.  The article is a bit dated.]
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0107]