Among the reasons that Alicia's law sailed through comfortably are three
that i know a bit about.  One was that she spent a lot of time putting it
together and got in touch with a a lot of folks to help provide details.
Another is that she had such fine support, in and out of New Hampshire.
A third is that she wasn't opposed.  Let's face facts.  Eight weeks for a
minimum sales and transport age for ferret kits is completely reasonable.
Plus, at least one farm is on record as saying that it used to do that
before competition forced the ages down to usually 6 or 7 weeks, and that
statement meshes with what folks who were around then recall.  The biggest
fact is that any farm which opposes an 8 week minimum is going to get so
torn up publicly that they know better.  They know that 8 weeks is fair
and they know that we are not stupid.  We'd all shred them once we found
out, and we would find out.
 
Steve and I can't get to the Forum at the Falls in Niagara, but I have
read that Alicia is going to give a workshop/lecture on changing laws
to be more ferret-friendly.  I wish we could make it for that and some
others!  Meanwhile, I hope that some of the people who so badly want to
change their state laws learn from Alicia, write up what they learned from
the experience of getting such 8 week minimum age laws in their states to
make it easier for the next group, and that each group teaches in turn.
It is what happened with legalization efforts and it worked, so might as
well have it work with this, too!
 
The ferret community has a history of some folks who don't complain a
lot publicly but settle down and make changes.  It is how legalization
happened in so many places, how a rabies vaccine wound up tested and
approved, how rabies-virus-shedding-times wound up being learned, how the
Compendium of Animal Rabies Control wound up being changed in ferrets'
favor, how states that didn't know about the Compendium changes came to
learn about them in '98 and to pretty well observe them (with a few being
somewhat more strict or having independent local health depts.), how local
health departments and emergency rooms in many areas got this information,
hoe ferret veterinary care advanced so rapidly, etc.  Time and again
people have -- almost always behind the scenes -- gotten very real and
positive changes made.  Many of those heros are unsung for all they have
done, or people know a little of what they have done but nowhere near the
full story.  Frankly, most of the most productive people in the ferret
community simply aren't known for their accomplishments by the general
community, but those who have been around a long time know who did what
and have strong respect and appreciation for the folks who made the day
a bit brighter and the ferret kisses a bit sweeter.
 
I hope that a lot of people everywhere will learn from attending Forum
at the Falls and similar fora, from reading, from contacting people and
asking questions, then going ahead and influencing others in ways that
help ferrets and ferret people.  It has been done so often and can be
done so many times more.
 
(What important points did I miss?  ;-)   )
[Posted in FML issue 3799]