We just have to share the good news!
 
Gail Leskiw, our Public Relations Director, has achieved something that may
mean more to AFS (Alberta Ferret Society) members and their ferrets over the
years than anything else we may ever do: the Capital Health Authority's
yesterday issued a press release stating that this district (Edmonton,
Alberta Canada) will no longer euthanize any ferret that bites a human, but
will instead quarantine for a period of 10 days provided there is proof of
current rabies vaccination.
 
Armed with a fistful of ferret info provided by other AFS members (collected
from various Internet sites), Gail met with Capital Health Authorities
recently to discuss the possibility of allowing ferrets to be brought in as
visitors to Extended Care Facilities.  At the same time the recommendations
from the Compendium were also discussed.  One point to note here is that
back in November we had faxed the Compendium's recommendations to the
Medical Officer of Health, yet never received a response.  Gail on the other
hand started at the other end of the totem pole and had much better success.
 
Something to think about if any of you aren't getting anywhere in your
attempts to get things changed.
 
The only bad news is that our bid to allow ferrets into Extended Care
facilities was shot down based solely on claims that ferrets will bite
unprovoked and that some children have been seriously injured from ferrets
bites.
 
Does anyone have any statistics to counteract this evidence or to proof the
value of allowing ferrets into these types of facilities?  If you do we'd
sure like to pass it on.
 
Fuzzy hugs from
Barb Gustafson (aka Boots)
Alberta Ferret Society
Vice-President
[Posted in FML issue 2210]