CA UPDATE 12/22/96
 
CENTRAL VALLEY CALIFORNIANS-- A CALL TO ARMS!!!!
 
On Wednesday, December 11th, the Modesto Bee Online reported that the
lobbying firm, Wagerman Associates, Inc., representing the interests of
Merced County, warned the board of supervisors to oppose any ferret
legalization efforts.  The platform adopted by the supervisors does indeed
oppose such legislation because "it would create potential health hazards
and increase animal control workloads.." I wonder where they got such
inaccurate information!
 
I spoke with Jan Goldsmith about this and want to relay his serious concerns
to you.  It is apparent that the opposition wants to fight this issue in the
California's Central Valley where the Farm Bureau is strongest along with
California Waterfowl.  We need to address this issue immediately with local
officials, editorial boards, and the boards of supervisors in this area.
You should also contact your local Assemblymembers for their support: Cruz
Bustamante, Chuck Poochigian, Mike Machado, are a few of the members in that
area.  I have already put in a call to the California Veterinary Medical
Association to ask them to coordinate with us on this.
 
If you live anywhere in the Central Valley, from Bakersfield, to Modesto, to
Fresno, wherever, WE NEED YOUR HELP.  You must get involved and not let the
lies told about the domesticated ferret prevail.  If this county board of
supervisors could see how the ferret compares to other domesticated animals
relative to the concerns they've expressed, they'd jump at the chance to see
ferrets as a legal option to other domesticated pets.
 
E-mail me ASAP with your name and phone number if you live in the Central
Valley and are willing to help (if you live in the Central Valley and are
unwilling to help, think again-- this is not going to happen in a vacuum).
I absolutely need to hear from anyone and everyone in that area.  Anyone
that has contacts in this area, if they care about ferret legalization,
should contact those people, let them know how vital this problem is, and
give them my telephone number.  Visit pet stores near you and enlist their
help.  Get them to write the newspapers, boards of supervisors, and
assemblymembers.  There's no reason not to begin now.  We need to make a
change in Modesto and to prevent such a thing from happening elsewhere.
This blanket and ignorant condemnation of the very good piece of legislation
that Jan Goldsmith will be introducing next year is an outrage to all
Californians and especially to residents of Modesto and the Central Valley.
Central Valley residents must fight this kind of misinformation, and they
must do it now if we are to succeed.
 
You all need to know that at the end of this legislative session, both Jan
Goldsmith and Quentin Kopp will be out of office due to term limits.  Now is
the time to pat yourselves on the back if you've worked hard on this issue
in the past and get ready to work a lot harder.  If you haven't been
involved, you must do so now.  Please don't let all of the hard work by
Jan's office and ferret folks not come to fruition by assuming it's just a
matter of time-- take a lesson from Modesto.  There are folks out there that
prefer to see you criminalized for doing absolutely nothing wrong!  You must
be prepared to fight them and the misinformation they spread if you want to
see ferrets legalized in California.
 
The following is an op-ed piece that Jan Goldsmith wrote and I want to ask
each and every one of you to send it to your local paper's editorial boards
this January.  Tell them to print it, that it's about time that California
join the rest of the world in recognizing its citizens right to own the
domesticated pet of their own choosing.  No one chosing a ferret as a pet is
a criminal!
 
Jeanne Carley (415)851-3750
Californians For Ferret Legalization
[log in to unmask]
 
P.S.  Please make a note of my new e-mail address, I was going to drop AOL,
but the move was just too difficult and I don't want to lose anyone.  You
will still be able to reach me at the old address for a while.
 
Stop Chasing Ferret Owners and Start Jailing Car Thieves
 
By: Assemblyman Jan Goldsmith (R-San Diego)
 
At 9:20 a.m.  on Sunday, November 26, 1995, Ilona Maggard responded to a
knock at the front door of her Fresno home.  Opening the door, she faced
five law enforcement officers armed with a search warrant.  Trembling, she
responded to their questions and explained that she was the only person
home, her husband and children were out.  The officers ordered her out of
her home while they conducted a search.
 
The search team went through everything from kitchen cabinets to the
childrens' rooms, closets, sealed boxes, dresser drawers and photo albums.
Although the search lasted two hours, the officers found contraband within
five minutes.  Ilona Maggard was read her rights, arrested and later
prosecuted for possession of a ferret.
 
Only a few months earlier, the same Fresno criminal justice system that
expended resources to arrest and prosecute Ilona Maggard for possession of a
ferret complained to the Fresno Bee that it did not have the resources to
detain a 13 year old boy who had stolen a car.  "There is just not enough
space in detention facilities," explained the presiding judge.
 
There was plenty of space for a young student named Brent Utley, however.
He brought his pet ferret from Arizona to his mother's house in California
where he was to attend summer school.  His ferret was confiscated and he was
jailed.  "I loved my pet", the young man later wrote.  "If you want to know
how I feel, let someone shoot your family's dog, cat or horse.  Then you'll
know."
 
Eleven year-old Ryan knows, having had his pet ferret confiscated.  His
mother asks: "Aren't there more important and sensible laws to be made than
the one that robs both children and adults of a loving relationship with a
harmless pet such as a ferret?  Where is your heart, California?"
 
Ferrets are small furry animals that have been domesticated for over 2,000
years.  They are mentioned as pets in Aristotle's writings and Greek plays.
Today, they are legal pets in every state in the continental U.S. except
California.  Millions of ferrets are kept in homes as pets throughout the
world.  Notwithstanding the ban, there are several hundred thousand kept
illegally as pets in California.
 
California's ban dates back to the 1930's when it was misclassified as a
wild animal probably due to confusion with its close relative, the European
Polecat.  The state's Departmentof Fish and Game, however, refuses to
consider legalization.  Key Department administrators have made a career of
battling ferrets, going so far as to circulate a report nationwide in 1988
claiming they are wild animals and calling on other states to ban them.
 
The 1988 report was discredited as nonsense and its only effect was to
prompt other states where they were banned to legalize ferrets!  After
analyzing the report, the Pacific Research Institute concluded that it was
"full of exaggeration, hyperbole, and inaccuracies.... There is nothing more
repugnant in a democracy than public officials who use public money to
mislead the public."
 
Today, many of those key administrators remain at the Department of Fish and
Game supervising enforcement.  They spend considerable time on a crusade to
fight legalization, claiming ferrets are ferocious animals that attack
children, livestock and endangered species.  These, and other
misrepresentations, have long been discredited by leading authorities and
experiences in other states which report no serious problem.
 
The U.S. Public Health Service describes the ferret as "docile and cat-like"
and the Journal of American Veterinary Medicine Association reports far less
bite incidents per capita than dogs.  Ferrets have lost their hunting
instincts and quickly die in the wild.  The U.S.  Department of Agriculture
considers it a domestic pet- not a wild animal- as do hundreds of
authoritative sources including the Smithsonian Institute, American
Veterinary Medical Association, American Museum of Natural History and every
other state on the continent and every other country in the world.
 
Using discredited and false claims, a few powerful Department administrators
protecttheir turf without regard for the costs to taxpayers and individuals.
The Pacific Research Institutes writes, "like Bill Murray who will stop at
nothing short of blowing up the golf course with dynamite to kill groundhogs
in the classic comedy movie Caddyshack, the Department of Fish and Game
seems to be driven by an age-old grudge against the ferret."
 
However, support for legalization is mounting.The California Veterinarian
Association has joined the legalization effort.  A recent Contra Costa Times
editorial concluded that "there is no legitimate reason to ban ferret
ownership."  The 400-member San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff's Association
labeled the ban "ridiculous" and a waste of crime-fighting resources.
During last session, the California Assembly voted 60-7 to adopt HR 37, a
resolution I authored calling on the Fish and Game Commission to legalize
ferrets by reclassifying them as domesticated animals.
 
When Massachusetts Governor William Weld legalized ferrets in 1995, he
denounced the "big government" attitude that caused owners to live "in fear
that an officer of the law would bang on the door late at night, grab the
family ferret and arrest them." Governor Weld concluded that it was time to
stop wasting taxpayer money and start respecting personal freedom.  Governor
Pete Wilson and Attorney General Dan Lungren can do the same for California
by reining in the bureaucracy they oversee and supporting legalization.
Perhaps if California stops wasting millions of dollars chasing ferret
owners, we can start jailing car thieves.
 
Jan Goldsmith
Assemblymember, Poway
[Posted in FML issue 1792]