>From:  David Doyle[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>Subject:  DFG Killing Ferrets
>Two nights ago I posted what I thought were laws and rights for honest
>citizens in California regarding the lawful ownership of ferrets.  Let it be
>known that this was information I had read directly from a California
>Domestic Ferret Association (CDFA) pamphlet...
 
>The reality of the situation seems to be completely different from what I
>had assumed from reading this literature.
 
David, what usually happens is if anything, worse, from the point of view of
civil liberties.  If your ferrets are grabbed and DFG is called in, their
health will be "held hostage" to your cooperating with the "procedure",
which is pay fines and get the ferret shipped out of state to an outside
agency of some sort.  Try and fight for your rights in court, the ferts will
be dead, possibly brought into court as evidence pickled stiff in
formaldehyde.
 
Which is why there haven't been near enough court fights.
 
If local cops or animal control get ahold of them and doesn't call DFG, it's
anybody's guess what happens next.  I've heard of at least one "on-the-spot"
execution being done by Fresno City Police right in someone's back yard; an
FMLer who shall remain nameless has evidence San Bernardino County Sheriffs
used captured ferrets as targets at a desert shooting range.  I've also
heard repeated stories from several sources that Marin County animal
shelters did what you'd expect them to do with animals they were told were
wild - RELEASED them deliberately!  I've gotten several tales of wild
colonies out near Petaluma somewhere...first weekend I get free, I'm gonna
investigate by talking to farmers and animal shelters, looking for roadkill
evidence, etc.
 
It's all a collosal mess.
Jim March
[Posted in FML issue 1689]