I attended the NYC hearing on the proposal to add ferrets and some other
animals to a list of prohibited species to be kept as pets in NYC today.
Considering it was a workday, it was pretty well attended, and more than
twelve , (I didn't keep count) people got up to speak against the proposal.
No one was in favor of it.
 
Several people who had signed up to speak did not show up; there was extra
time and people who wanted to speak who were not signed up were permitted
to do so.  No one was denied an opportunity to speak, as there was ample
time.
 
Two men who spoke regarding the proposed ban on some reptiles did say they
would support a ban by species of certain reptiles, particularly (they
mentioned a few) those which get large enough to be dangerous to their
owners, but they did NOT want a ban of the entire monitor lizard genus.
 
All the other speakers spoke out against the proposal as it applied to
ferrets.  (My apologies to those whose names I omitted, I'm rotten at
names!!!)  Some highlights:
 
-Coverage by Channel 4 news  (Did any of the footage air?)
 
-Several points were made repeatedly by the speakers; that pet owners need
to supervise interaction between small children/babies and ANY pet, that
ferrets as a species are NOT 'naturally inclined to do harm', that pet
ferrets are domestic animals and not wild animals; that ferrets, dogs and
cats ALL need to be properly socialized for interaction with humans, that
any of those have the potential to bite; that ferrets are widely recognized
as domestic animals; that they can be vaccinated against rabies.
 
-Speakers from the ASPCA (I think that was Lisa Weissberg (sp?) and Humane
Society (?HSUS? I forget the correct acronym!) who said (at length) that
their societys were in opposition to the ban.
 
-A woman speaking on behalf of the city council who said that the
proposition was not in accordance with the city charter (A political
opposition saying 'this isn't something you folks should be controlling'.)
 
-Mary Shefferman (editor of Modern Ferret), who was the only speaker to
get the extremely stoic people who were our audience to actually laugh,
by saying that her niece had bitten far more people than her ferrets.
 
-Other speakers included two veterinarians who treat ferrets, a
psychiatrist who owns a ferret, Anne Ryan (LIFE and the Fuzztek shelter),
Scott (Kit) MacKenzie of LOS
 
-Gary Haskell, who had asked to speak last, berating the council before him
on numerous points.  I will let Gary share the details of what he said at
the hearing.  I had no idea he was so frustrated by the whole thing until
he got up to speak, and it took some effort to keep my jaw off the floor
while listening to his tirade.  (Gary, warn me next time!!)
 
One thing he berated them for was that speakers signing up had to give
their name and full contact information, which would tend to discourage
people in NYC from getting up and speaking, since if the change was
enacted, their contact info was on record so they could be tracked down and
prosecuted.  (This was one of the reasons I had chosen to take the day off
work and go down to speak at the meeting; I knew that since I live in
Westchester County and not New York CIty, no matter what happened with the
proposal, I was in no danger of anything like that.)
 
The council sat silently and did not respond to direct questions he asked
of them.  I don't know if that's normal protocol or not, but it didn't
impress me at all.
 
There's more, but hopefully others will post also; I have to go get some
sleep!!
 
-Ilena Ayala
[Posted in FML issue 2700]