PRESS RELEASE
 
For Immediate Distribution
Contact for additional information: Marie Wallace
Email address: [log in to unmask]
 
I will no longer be serving as Secretary of the Florida Coalition for
Rational Rabies Policies.  My separation from FCRRP comes only from a lack
of time on my part, and I will continue to support this effort as needed.
Just as I hope everyone else in Florida will do.
 
I will be reactivating my membership to Brevard Ferret Lovers Rescue and
will continue to act as liason between BFLR and the FML.
 
For those of you on my press release email listing, I will be forwarding
your email addresses onto Marie Wallace for her use in keeping you abreast
of the latest developments.  If you do not wish to have your name given to
Marie or FCRRP, please contact me prior to March 21.
 
I, as a member of BFLR, will continue to collect names of Floridians as I
would like to be able to schedule a Florida Ferret get together in the
future.  If you'd like your name added to this list, please send me email.
 
On a final note, Katherine Long <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>biting ferrets.  He said the current rule has been on the books for years
>but it became public because of the biting incident in south Florida (I
 
The rabid ferret was in Canaveral Groves, located here in Central Florida.
The posts that I wrote on the incident last July are on LIFE's info/rabies
bank and I still have copies of the official reports of that incident.
 
>Their position is that they should wait until the tests are completed
>rather than change the law now and maybe have to change it again later.  In
>the meantime, if a bite does occur, each county handles it in their own way.
>If you can show that your ferret is vaccinated and that there is no other
>potential for exposure (other animals or unsupervised outdoor activity),
>many Florida counties will not kill the ferrets.
 
It is true that while many Florida counties will not kill and test the
ferret involved in bite/scratch incidents, Brevard County is one of the
counties that *do* kill and test.  And there are NO guarantees in any other
county that the ferret will not be killed for testing, regardless of the
bite situation or the history of the ferret!
 
In addition, the Morris Foundation Six Part Rabies Shedding study is only
one third completed at this time.  The skunk strain portion was completed in
October 1995 and the raccoon strain portion was completed just recently;
currently the bat portion is being conducted.  This is only half of the
study - how could this six part shedding study be completed within a year?
I suspect that you were probably told this so that the issue would go away.
The law should mandate rabies vaccinations and grant a quarantine period.
If we are granted this now, there will not be a need to change this law in
the future...
 
Keep in mind that this issue has been worked on for the past year on a
county level here in Melbourne (Brevard County).  BFLR did as much as was
possible on the county level and now FCRRP is taking this issue onto the
state level.  It is very important that you keep up with the latest news so
that we all will not have to worry about our ferrets being killed for rabies
testing.
 
Happy ferreting!
 
Susie Sherman
[Posted in FML issue 1876]