I got a note from a vet student informing me that AVAR has had a good
history of doing constructive things -- that this recent foray into
anti-ferret politics and failure to learn the facts involved -- is new and
aberrant.  It's good to know that there's a past which is good because it
means that sense should be able to be once again imposed by the members
who love ferrets: vets and vet students who are likely to read this post
as well as those who speak with FML vet members.
 
You have, over the last few days, read the letters which Alicia and I got
from Teri at AVAR.  Obviously, there were stances mentioned there which are
truly naive and dangerous for ferrets and ferret people.  Quoting these may
help clarify how much the membership in general and perhaps even some of
the board members are perhaps unaware of these stances being attributed
to the group by the individual who sent the letters in the name of AVAR.
Please, also let folks know that accurate and detailed information is
available from CA ferret groups (including a 350 page book of evidence
through Jeanne and Floyd) which are essential to understanding the
situation there.  For a group to take such a position without a foundation
on the issues at hand is unfair not only to those hurt by such a stance,
but also to the organization and its membership.
 
PLEASE, vet and vet student members of the FML, it is up to YOU to
introduce some sense to this group in relation to California and in
relation to ferrets as pets.  For a group to take its opposition to pet
farms through to thinking that ferrets should be illegal so as to cut into
those farms' bottom lines is just about as far fetched as me thinking that
just because there are beans in the world there must also be a giant at the
end of a bean-stalk.
 
This is a situation in which vets and vet students can turn around a bad
problem which no one else can effectively tackle because YOU are inside.
PLEASE, let the AVAR know how you feel about it working against the
legalization of ferrets in CA, and that you think that any stand involving
ferrets or any other animal not widely known should in the future involve
experts on the animal and on the situations under study, as well as
balanced resources and references.
[Posted in FML issue 2914]