>I received a response from Governor Wilson's office today in response to the
>fax I sent him about his stand on ferrets.  Did anyone else get such a
>letter?
 
I received the same letter, and I imagine that it is being sent to everyone
who asked for the governor's stand on this issue.
 
<various snips>
>By time I finished reading it, I was ballistic.  They must have had
>the DFG write the letter....
>Does anyone have any suggestions for me to write a letter to these turkeys?
>I have a copy of the PRI report, but I am hesitant to use it because if the
>people who wrote this letter (D.L.  Olson signed his name to the letter,
>but he asks that any further correspondance be sent to Terry Mansfield of
>the Wildlife Management Division) are from the DFG, quoting a report that
>rips them in shreds wouldn't be terribly productive.
 
I first called the number listed on the letter for "Wildlife Management" and
it is a DFG office number.  I realized that trying to change the minds of
the people who payed for the original biased report whose incorrect
information is obviously used in the letter that I was calling to respond to
would be slightly less productive than banging my head against a wall.  So,
I called the phone number at the bottom of the first page to try to talk to
D.  L.  Olsen himself.  After discovering that D.  stands for Debbie (oops),
and telling the operator that I was calling in regards to the ferret issue,
I was told that she was out of the office, and allowed to leave a message on
her voice mail.  I tried to outline the inaccuracies contained in the letter
about the DOMESTIC ferret being controlled by a WILDLIFE department, when
dogs and cats which have feral pop.'s in the US are not.  Also, I quickly
mentioned the part of the PRI report that calls into question the ease with
which ferrets were introduced into New Zealand.
 
Obviously, now would be the time to inform the governor's office, whether by
contacting Debbie Olsen or sending a letter to the office, of the DFG's
actions regarding the Environmental Impact Report, and how they lied to the
public about how they would have it completed by this month.  Also, the fact
that a negative declaration should have been made instead of requiring an
EIR because of "the controversy" which they created.  (see any posts made by
Ms. Carley for more complete information)
 
The US Humane Societies recent acceptance of ferrets as companion animals
could be brought to the governors attention.
 
I believe that calling the Wildlife Management Office would be unproductive.
We should probably focus on giving accurate information to the gov.'s
office.  If we could convince them, the DFG would quickly fall in line
behind them.
 
Anybody have other ideas? or criticisms?
 
Tom Bullock
[Posted in FML issue 1674]