Troy Lynn wrote:
>56 positive cases of rabies have been confirmed in Kansas, including 3
>in Sedgwick County and 2 in Butler County.  Right now the "hot spots"
>for rabies in Kansas are Riley, Polk, Clay, and Washington counties in
>northeast Kansas, and Gray and Ford counties in southwest Kansas.
 
There have also been a lot of wild animals with rabies and canine
distemper within New England and the Middle Atlantic states.  A milder
than normal winter allowed vector species to survive even when the sick
individuals were quite compromised.  If your ferrets are over-due for
their vaccinations be sure to get them, don't forget that kits need an
entire series of canine distemper shots -- not just the first ones that
some breeders give -- as well as their rabies shots once they are old
enough.  If you have a ferret who has reacted to multiple vaccines and
you decide to not try the new Merial Purevax one then be careful to skip
outdoor walks and such.  If someone panics and tries to cause problems
for your ferret use the link to the Compendium of Animal Rabies Control at
http://geocities.com/sukieslist .
The three sections of this compendium should also be gotten to your local
emergency rooms and local health officials for best safety for ferrets as
well as cats and dogs.
 
> http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/kdhe.html
I like the way that Troy Lynn did that for Kansas.  It would be good if
state clubs did that for their own states as well -- could save a number
of ferrets.  I don't have a lot of free time but can help folks locate
their state public health vets in charge of rabies policy if that help is
needed.  What may be fastest if your vet doesn't have the listing in the
AVMA Directory will be to go back through the back FML posts from 1998
when I spoke/exchanged mails with each state's public health vet(s) in
charge of rabies policy.  The individuals may have changed in some cases,
but the addresses and phone numbers may be especially useful.  To find the
FML archives go to the address found within the header.  If need my help
don't be surprised if it take s a little bit of time due to my schedule.
 
>Thanks Sandy, you sure gave me hope as a new 2 ferret owner, on the other
>hand,has anyone listed where all the Shelters are?
 
It's in the files available from the FML, or you can go to the files at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-List
 
I was asked if I was disappointed that the Reader's Digest article used
was the one that interviewed the AFA person instead of the one that
interviewed Bruce Williams and me.  Yes and no.  What's most important is
that there was one.  The bit of disappointment (which is more than off-set
by them actually having a ferret article -- an important step forward in
the popular press) is because I wasn't aware that there were alternative
articles that could be run instead.  What the heck, it's good publicity
for ferrets and that's what we all want and need.  Guess I felt like I
had some egg on my face since I didn't know about alternative articles.
That's okay; just life.
 
I thought that it was really neat that the AFA folks also came to the
same conclusion that Bruce Williams and I did -- that if the low numbers
for the ferret population were given then the foes have no chance of
saying, "But the population numbers may be lower..." when the low
per-capita serious-bite numbers are mentioned anywhere.  It's funny,
their article covered many of the same essential points that the one that
Bruce and I were interviewed for covered, so I wound up happy about the
fine content.  Isn't it great that the popular press more and more is
getting accurate and fair info about ferrets and sharing it?  As many
old timers can attest we've all had a long haul getting to this point.
Hopefully, there will be more and more such articles everywhere through
the years ahead.
[Posted in FML issue 3766]