Well, I had a conversation with Rep. Jones today. He suggests that we
continue to barrage the Governors office with phone calls, faxes and e-mail
messages. Everyone has been doing a great job with lobbying him.
Definately making an impact on his staff!!!!!
Yesterday the Governors office received over 100 phone calls from "Ferret
Owners" voicing their opinions and asking him to sign the bill.
I've located my favorite aide (although they all are quite nice) considering
the amount of calls they receive. "Charles" has been getting a daily dose
of Sharon every day. I spoke at length with him yesterday enlightening him
on ferrets, the history of ferrets, etc. Bill W. sent to him a fax with a
bunch of information on ferrets.
I have learned that the "key" to lobbying Senators, Governors, Reps, is to
get to their aides. If their staff knows what is going on, they count on
them to inform them on whats happening. The better we educate the staff or
aides, the better chance we have.
Right now where we stand legislatively is this. Governor Weld received
House Bill 295 on Monday Nov 27th. He has ten days to sign the bill, veto
it or send it back to the legislature to re-word it. If he ignores the bill
for these 10 days, it automatically becomes law.
If he signs the bill, we will not become legal for 90 days. There is no
emergency preamble on the bill. An emergency preamble will make the bill
become enacted immediately upon his signature. With the pet store provision
on the amended version, we decided to wait the 90 days. Lets get thru Xmas
before they're allowed in stores.
The Bill did get amended by Senator Robert Durand. He did it last minute,
the reasoning was that if he'd done it months ago, the bill would have been
killed. I personally was told by the Senator that the only change in the
bill was that Breeders would have to keep a spay/neuter record for every
ferret sold. I asked him if that was it and he said yes, it would not
jeopardize the bill. (This was at 1:20AM on Thursday, Nov. 16).
The next day, we were faxed the amended bill. In READING it we discovered
that indeed the provision for the sale of ferrets in pet stores had been
amended to allow this.
As it stands now, because of the amendment, the MSPCA (Mass Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) has backed off of their support for House
Bill 295. They do not support and have never supported a bill that would
allow them to be sold in stores. The MSPCA has stated that they are for the
legalization of ferrets as pets but not for sale in stores. They do not
want another animal they would have to inspect in our pet stores.
They have written a letter to Governor Weld requesting he either veto the
bill or send it back to the Senate to have the pet store provision removed.
Like the saying goes "politics make strange bedfellows". In a conversation
with the MSPCA, I offered my services as a "ferret expert" to help with
Public Health and the MSPCA if the Governor signs the present bill into law.
Course I am not a "ferret expert" but have access to all of you who are. We
now have on our side, the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, the Mass
Veterinary Association and the Pet Store Industry. I'm hopeful that all our
lobbying power is better than the MSPCA's.
What will be needed once we are legal is:
In conjunction with the MSPCA, Mass Vet Assoc, and Public Health, a
quarantine period to be determined by Public Health and Animal Health.
Ferrets are listed as "wild" not domestic. We will have to change that.
Also, we will not be under the reign of Fish and Wildlife, we will come
under Animal Health.
Like I said, the MSPCA and the ARL (Animal Rescue League) who operate
shelters, will be taking the brunt of ferret drop offs. WE as ferret
owners, will have to get a shelter system in operation in this state,
adoption programs, foster care, etc. This will help alleviate the problems
the MSPCA and ARL will be experiencing.
Also, what will be needed is education. Educating new owners, old owners,
getting breeders and pet stores to pass out documentation on these ferrets
along with local access numbers. We will create a "network" for these
people to help with problems.
We will be working with the Mass Veterinary Association. Our Veterinarians
will need to be educated on ferrets. We will hold seminars to get the word
out.
All of the Animal Control Officers in this state will be receiving
documentation from our group. We will let them know that ferrets are now
legal and give them all the resources we have available in our shelter
system.
Well I hope I haven't left anything out. We definately have our work cut
out for us. Course, we still have to get over this hurdle. Can't do all
this till we're legal.
Thanks again to everyone for all your words of encouragement and support. I
know we WILL make this happen. We're just so close. Keep up those calls
daily and keep calling the FHL (617) 224-1098 for updates on the bill and
what needs to be done next.
[Posted in FML issue 1396]
|
