Hello everyone,
Today my father and I and Jan Goldsmith's legislative aide had a meeting
with John McCaul (Audubon Society) and William Craven (Sierra Club)
regarding AB 363. In general, we were met by open minds, especially Mr.
McCaul from Audubon. He said he had received some e-mail from ferret-owning
Audubon members out of state (thank you, thank you all of you) and also
received our factual data (Fish and Game letters, OTA study etc.), plus lots
of letters and e-mails that were "impassioned" but, in his opinion, not
overboard. He is inclined to believe that ferrets cannot survive outdoors.
Mr. McCaul said he would not work the floor against this issue and would
present our material to his "boss", Mr Taylor.
Mr. Craven was also deluged with information and when he brought up some
concerns was presented with the facts. For instance, one of the first
mentions he made was a study that talked about the feral populations of
ferrets on San Juan Island. I asked him to take a look at a letter from WA
Fish and Game stating that the ferrets had died out there before he went
on...... He read the letter, smiled, put the letter in his folder, and moved
on. I feel we also have an open mind there but am more concerned about the
committee. They're the ones that will vote on this and I hope everyone will
keep up the pressure on the Sierra Club (gentle pressure, remember).
Thanks for all your hard work, letters, phone calls, e-mails. It is paying
off and we may be able to get these organizations to back off from their
previous positions.
In the meantime, please re-contact your State Assemblyman to ask for their
support for AB 363 if they haven't committed already. Our floor vote will
most likely happen on Thursday or Friday of next week and we'd love to fill
the gallery, so anyone that is interested in coming, please keep in touch.
Jeanne Carley
Californians for Ferret Legalization
410 Mountain Home Road Woodside, CA 94062
(415) 851-3750 <[log in to unmask]>
http://www.ccnet.com/~beisners/gsfs/lobby.html
CALIFORNIANS, YOU CAN FIND OUT YOUR ASSEMBLYMEMBER AND STATE SENATOR BY
VISITING THIS SITE!! IT'S TIME TO CALL AND WRITE YOUR ASSEMBLYMEMBER--THE
FLOOR VOTE WILL HAPPEN SOON!
[Posted in FML issue 1951]
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