From: [log in to unmask] (Ron Jurek) Date: Mon, Jan 28, 2002, 3:27pm
The California Fish and Game Commission forwarded your e-mail message of
January 6, 2002 to me for reply. Hopefully, the following information
will answer your questions.
"...fish and game will lose their funding by making ferrets legal..."
Neither the Fish and Game Commission nor the Department of Fish and Game
would lose funding if ferrets were made legal for pet keeping in this
state.
"...California pet shops...sell ferret foods, cages, vitamins, ferret
toys and accessories."
There are no restrictions on sales of ferret items, some of which might
be purchased for other kinds of pets.
You wrote that California is "...the ONLY state that ferrets are illegal."
Ferrets are legal to possess in California under permit. Other states
have similar restrictions. However, California and Hawaii do not issue
permits for people to possess ferrets as pets. You can find more
information on this topic by looking at our Department's ferret issues
web page at
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/ferret_issues_4.shtml.
Other related information is contained in the 1996-97 Nationwide Ferret
Survey of State Wildlife Agencies
(http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/survey.shtml).
Since dogs are used for hunting and cats hunt, you feel that they should
be illegal, if ferrets are illegal. There is no general state restriction
on possession of dogs and cats, but various state and local restrictions
apply for public health and safety and livestock and wildlife protection
reasons. The environmental damage caused by free-roaming cats is a good
example of why we are concerned about predatory species of animals being
imported as pets into this state. Training ferrets to hunt rabbits and
other animals is popular in some countries, and we know of instances when
ferrets were being used for illegal hunting in California. (See
"Instances of Ferrets Being Illegally Used as Hunting Animals in
California" at
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/
ferret_issues_1.shtml#HUNTING).
"There has NOT been ANY, NOT ONE, Case of ferrets running in packs and
killing wildlife!"
Domestic ferrets and their wild relatives live a solitary existence,
except at breeding time. They would not be expected to be found in
packs. There are numerous examples around the world where these scattered
populations of breeding ferrets have been found in the wild. In such
areas they exist on wildlife. In New Zealand, feral ferrets have caused
tremendous damage to wildlife and have helped spread bovine tuberculosis
to cattle (see
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/ferret_issues_3.shtml).
"The ferrets are not allowed to be sold without being spayed first so
how in the world can they possibly breed in the wild?"
Ferret breeding farms and private breeders have intact ferrets, so
unsterilized ferrets are available. Our long-time restriction on
importation of domestic ferrets has not stopped many people from illegally
importing ferrets, and some of those ferrets that were confiscated by our
wardens had not been sterilized.
"I have researched S.E. Alaska and NO domestic ferrets have EVER been
found there!"
The evidence of domestic ferrets surviving in wintertime in Alaska is
summarized in the section on world distribution of domestic ferrets on the
Fish and Game web page (See under North America, Alaska, at
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/ferret_issues_3.shtml).
"Why do you need a document on the environment?"
State law requires that an environmental document be prepared, and that a
public hearing be held, before any action can be taken by the California
Fish and Game Commission to add or change existing regulations, such as
removing domestic ferrets from the restricted animals list. The
Commission in April 2000 informed proponents of ferret legalization that
they would be responsible for funding the preparation of an environmental
document. (See
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/
ferret_issues_4.shtml#Commission).
"F & G thinks there are fewer (than) one hundred thousand ferrets (when
it is well over one million)..."
We based our estimate on pet industry data. The American Veterinary
Medical Association's latest published survey of pet owners indicated
that there were 791,000 ferrets in the entire United States. American
Pet Products Manufacturers Association's national survey showed similar
ownership rates. (See "A Review of National and California Population
Estimates of Pet Ferrets" at
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/ferret.shtml).
"Where are all those horror stories about these California ferret killing
wildlife then?"
We feel that California's restrictions on importation and possession of
domestic ferrets has reduced the opportunities for ferrets to get into the
wild. Even so, ferrets frequently are found loose in the wild, such as
when they've escaped from homes or were abandoned in parks. Most stray
ferrets are likely to be recaptured or to die, but any that survive in the
wild would be extremely difficult to detect. We do not have the resources
to search the lands and waters of the state for escapees of the various
kinds of animals and plants illegally imported into California. However,
we do know what damage has been caused elsewhere in the world when ferrets
have escaped or been released into the wild, and we want to avoid that
situation here. Where ferrets have been found living in the wild in other
states in the U.S., restrictions on ferret ownership either did not exist
or, in the case of Alaska, recently had been lifted (See
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/hcpb/species/nuis_exo/ferret/ferret_issues_3.shtml).
Each of the web pages listed above have links to all of the others, as
well many other Department of Fish and Game web pages that will provide
you with additional ferret-related information.
I hope this will answer you questions and concerns.
Sincerely,
Ron Jurek, Wildlife Biologist
Species Conservation and Recovery Program Habitat Conservation Planning
[Posted in FML issue 3678]
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