Purposely spreading slanderous information which can damage business is an
offence which can result in very high court fines.  The manufacturer of
IMRAB-3 ( which met the USDA's strident criteria to be accepted as an
effective rabies vaccine for ferrets in 1990 ) got CA F, G & W to halt its
false claim that there was not an approved rabies vaccine.  Perhaps they
would be happy to send a "Cease and Desist" to the organization you mention.
After all, that's what they have lawyers on staff to handle.  Could someone
here, please, post the appropriate addresses/phone numbers where the folks
in CA and AZ who reported this can get in touch with the manufacturer?
 
Re: the recent rosy boa situation and CA F, G & W.  The Mountain Lion
(Society?) and a number of cat lovers are also angry about a 10 # housecat
shot by wardens who thought it was a mountain lion.  Maybe it would make
sense for a number of animal groups to get together and write up multiple
1997 abuses by CA F, G, and W for a "NOT AGAIN in 1998" press release
charging incompetency and demanding a response by law makers there?  A few
thousand people too often can't make much of a difference, but once the
press/tv/radio hear over and over and over from people in MANY animal
organizations -- each helping the other groups as well as their own, they
would begin to realize that perhaps hundreds of thousands of people are
angry.  That would make it time to utilize the growing public sentiment for
their own ratings.  There is also more power in a grouping of animal
organizations (which also in newsletters pass on the addresses of the media
for their members to write to asking for coverage) charging incompetence
together than in getting something here or there trickling in.
 
Bob, your writings on ferrets NOT competing in "feral" form could be useful
for such as long as they have the obvious clean-ups, since name calling
could only detract in that forum.  Do you have such available which are in
greater detail than in the natural history FAQ, BTW -- I've wondered at
times -- for other uses?  If so, what do want for sending a copy when your
time permits?
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2170]