this is from UPI on Tuesday:

 Outlaw ferret owners hope for vindication under House bill
        LANSING, Mich. (UPI) -- An estimated 50,000 outlaw ferret owners in
Michigan were hoping for a House vote Tuesday that would be the first
step in returning them to the right side of the law.
        The House was scheduled to reconsider a measure defeated last week
that would legalize keeping the weasel-like rodents as domesticated
house pets. If the effort succeeds, the bill goes to the Senate. If
successful, Michigan would join 46 states that allow ferrets as house
pets.
        Legislation to legalize ferrets sponsored by Rep. Ralph Ostling, R-
Roscommon, in the last session of the Legislature never made it to the
floor of the House but ferrets have picked up some powerful friends
since then.
        Rep. Tom Alley, D-West Branch, chairman of the House Conservation,
Recreation and Environment Committee, said last Tuesday's 45-53 vote was
the result of misconceptions about the health hazards posed by ferrets.
His committee gave the initial approval to a new Ostling bill to
legalize ferret ownership.
        ``It's a perceived problem and the perceived problem is not a
reality,'' said Alley. ``... A lot of people are afraid to take their
pet to the veterinanian for any type of problem because they're afraid
of having it taken away and destroyed.''
        Opponents of keeping ferrets as pets say the rodents can turn and
become vicious and spread rabies.
        But Randy Sellers, strategic coordinator for the Domestic European
Ferret Fanciers and Breeders Association of Minnesota, said there have
been far fewer cases of rabies amoing ferrets than among dogs and cats.
        ``Why should dogs and cats be legal as pets?'' he asked. ``It's the
same situation -- they're a domestic animal with 5,000 years of
association with man.''
        Ostling aide Verna Karkau said that currently ferrets discovered as
house pets are either destroyed or sent to a ferret shelter in Chicago.
        ``A lot of people who own ferrets are afraid to come forward because
they don't want anything to happen to their pets,'' she said.

[Posted in FML 0199]