>All breeders, and dealers for that matter including pet stores, of >ferrets in the US have to be licensed with the USDA and are covered >by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Not exactly so: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/awlicreg/awlicreg.html Read down to the exemptions and which can not be exempt in each category! In this case, possibly because of the mink, and if they sold ferrets to wholesale pet trade APHIS licensing would apply, I think. This is the kind of action that has to be begun by people who are in the same state, coordinating with others anywhere, and the first steps are to contact the right authorities, document, discuss and listen. My memories from back when there were a number of places around here selling fur farm ferrets was that a number were bad biters and pretty much all were short lived. They had never been bred for longevity and health -- just to be able to pop out babies in their prime years and to have good fur coats. Sukie (not a vet) Current FHL address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 5525]
