At 2:00 AM -0400 10/26/99, Aunastasia wrote:
>I asked why Dept of Fish and Wildlife still has any say, since
>ferrets are now officialy pets and fall under the domestic pets,
>rabies rules
 
It's not an aspect of human health (which falls under the auspices of the
Public Health Veterinarians in charge of Rabies Policy at the Health
Dept.), but an aspect of how they might affect the local wild mustelids
if they became as common as dogs and cats (which could result in a number
being turned loose) which falls under the control of Fish, Game and
Wildlife.  Because of this my personal hope is that when they finally do
reach the point of being officially classified as "domestic" that they do
require licences; that over-seeing does help reduce the number of animals
turned loose to fend for themselves and to then die horrific deaths while
possibly also infecting the local wildlife.  (Yes, it still happens but in
lowered numbers.)
 
FG&W KNOWS that no feral ferrets exist here and that such colonies just
don't have a history in the US (except PERHAPS on one NW island where there
had been a report, though it was never substantiated that those actually
were ferrets and they did die off rather quickly -- and for which they have
all the professional contact information in their extensive files thanks
to Troy Lynn's efforts), but there is always the possibility that if a lot
were released the sheer numbers might have a negative impact, or that
diseases like ECE might be caught by the wild population since there
certainly are diseases every year which jump species.  We have several
types of weasels here, mink, otters, some martins have begun
re-establishing (Yippeeeeee!!!!!  We've even seen same.), and there are the
occasional fishers found (though those could just be wanderers since not
enough found to know for sure -- though years back one showed up in
southern NJ with the tag of a research project tracing the population in
Northern NY)!  You can see why they want to be safe.  Imagine killing off a
wild population with ECE due to folks letting ferrets go.  Sadly, it could
possibly happen without some controls.
 
They are classified as "Exotic Pet Species" not "Domestic" in NJ due to
such concerns.
[Posted in FML issue 2847]