Bill,
 
My comment was:
>How many strangers would you estimate those 5-7 million pet ferrets (Page
>12 of The Ferret An owners guide to a happy healthy pet) could potentially
>have contact with in their lifetime, compared to a dog? Half? A quarter?
>An eighth? I'll bet the number is pretty low. That one number alone could
>significantly change the statistic.
 
Your response was:
 
>Our ferrets meet about as many people as our dogs. Lots of road trips.
>Shows and the like. Our dogs don't get away from the house at all.
 
Just like you, we take our ferrets out in the public many more times then
we do our two dogs.  But do you think you and I, for that matter everyone
else on this list (all 3000 approx.) represents the average ferret owner**.
I don't know about you, but when we take our ferrets out in public we don't
let just anybody touch them.  And if they do, we don't let them touch
anywhere near their head (We make an exception for experienced ferret
owners).  Even at shows we don't let lots of people handle them.  Besides,
unlike the dogs most people will not just walk up and start petting our
ferrets without asking permission (If they want to touch them at all!).  I
used that scenario just to prove a flaw in the statistic.  How many ferrets
have you seen running the streets with or without an owner nearby?  On the
same note, how many "Lost Ferret" flyers have you seen compared to dogs?
How many yard and house protecting ferrets do you think mailmen (excuse me!
"Mailpersons" ) come in contact wit! h?  How many of those bite cases do
you think were reported by mailpersons?
 
**Lets take the low number of that ferret estimate (5 million).  Which is
very conservative, considering the book was written long before the CDC
rabies compendium.  And let's assume that the every average ferret owner
has three ferrets (It's probably more like 1.5 ferrets).  Divide 5 million
by 3.  The answer is 1.67 million ferret owners (Again probably pretty
conservative).  If you take the 3000 FML members and divide them by 1.67
million ferret owners, you will get what percentage of the ferret owners
are FML members (which I consider above average ferret owners).  The answer
is .0018 or .18% (less than < of 1 percent).  So now what do I consider to
be an average ferret owner?  I'm not going into an elaborate definition.
It's someone who has little or no knowledge about the social and health
requirements of their pets.
 
I hope this clarified my comment.
 
You and the family have a great Holiday season.
 
Jerry, Nita and the Ten of Hearts Gang
http://www.angelfire.com/oh/jnjack/antics.html
[Posted in FML issue 2519]