I'm off in the morning to Washington DC, and have been a VERY bad boy in
putting off telling people I'm on my way. The time just crept up on me, so
all you nuts that wanted me to drop by, some just long enough to whack, and
others for a few days, well, I'll be calling you soon. Have the bare floor
and stale tacos ready! I really have no idea how long I will be in Weasel
Town until I look at the collection I am interested in, but I estimate it to
be about 2-3 weeks, so I might ask some of you twice if I can use your
floor.
In other areas, I got an e-mail asking how in the hell I can know so much
about ferrets and science and stuff, and still have been a photographer for
so long. The answer is I am VERY old. But being an alien from another
world with an extremely long life span helps. Plus I'm Bobonic. That's
like bionic, only better. You will find my photos more than adequate, and
besides, its to help the Kodo defence fund, so even if all you get is to see
me getting all tangled up in electrical lighting equipment and frying
myself, hey, it's cheap entertainment.
About the club thingie. I think Sukie got it right to start collecting
names, and in the next week or so, have the people start working. First, I
want to say this is not my baby, but everyones. I was just stupid or mad
enough to mention it first. But judging by the volume of FML and private
posts, it was already on other people's minds; I just was first to voice it.
That out of the way I have a few gentle comments.
I love the idea of not limiting ourselves to the USA. Canadians and
Mexicans are North Americans too, and there are lots of really good people
in Sweden, Britain, New Zealand, Australia, and all sorts of other areas.
While historically ferrets have been kept for hunting and ratting (and to a
lesser extend for companionship), it seems that as companion pets much area
has been charted in the USA. This puts us slightly ahead in the pet issues
(perhaps), and the problems we solve will certainly be faced in other
countries. I think membership from all walks of life, from different
cultures and different countries will only make us stronger and will
certainly make the lives of ferrets better. Ferrets don't care about
international boundaries; they just want to know where the raisins are.
To answer Bill Killians comments about why not fix the existing clubs; well,
I for one would love to see the various clubs band together into a single
organization, ending this mess. Do you think that will happen? There is no
way I am going to tell tales, but we all know the extent of the infighting
among these groups which has polarized them into distinct individual
regional clubs. There is something in each and every club that is unique
and good, and dam the river, we need it. What we don't need is the
anamosity that exists right now, that is so bad that people from one group
hate people from another, and intergroup cooperation is virtually
nonexistent. Yes, they come together in a limited way for issue like Kodo,
but if they had been working together from the very beginning, Kodo may not
have happened.
What is needed is political power to fight other political powers, such as
the fish and game, Audubon Society, Sierra Club, animal control, and every
piss-ant township that decided ferrets eat babies and wants to make them
illegal. Bluntly, we need the best we can get, and some are in FURO, some
in LIFE, come in CaCaLand, some in AFA, etc. You know, I know, hell the
whole dam the river FML knows some of the best would never join the AFA, and
vice-versa. The history of anamosity is so great, no one outside your
groups has ANY hope of you all settling your differences and working
together. Few issues on the FML has garnered so much interest and so much
mail in such a short time as this one. These people are saying something,
and the message is clear. They are simply saying the existing clubs have
*failed* them.
The FML has been acting as a defacto club for quite some time now, and the
work has been dropped into Bill's lap. There is no leadership, no goals, no
program. Just reaction. Instead of changing things, we react to them.
Sometimes we get favorable results, but mostly we do not. I don't have a
clue to the memberships of the existing organizations, but I doubt if many
are as large as the FML in terms of actual members, and even fewer are
larger. But as large as the largest one is, the number of people are small,
and that makes it political voice small. All of us together, and with more
besides, now that becomes a political force.
Can the existing groups get together to form a single unit? Under whos
banner? FURO? LIFE? STAR? AFA? Is the AFA willing to merge itself with
any of these groups? The problems between the groups are historical and
deeply rooted. Can you honestly say you have hope that *any* existing
organization can merge with the others to form an organization with the
political might to for the issues the way they need to be fought for? And
if you do elect to band together, under a new banner, is that *any*
different than what has been proposed at a grassroots level on the FML?
A new organization offers a clean slate, no negative history, no anamosity.
Already 40-50 people have publicly stated (and many more to me privately)
they are sick and tired of the crap going on between the existing
organizations, and they want something else, something new and something
with national political power. They are saying they are tired of the
bickering, and tired of the lost resolve, and tired of reactionary tales.
This sounds mean, even perhaps cruel, but if the existing organizations had
done their job, or had the political power needed, Kodo could be alive.
Maybe not; who knows. But at least there could have been a chance through
proper education *before* the act, not reactionary to it.
A lot of ferret's heads have been cut off before Kodo, and some have already
been lost after. But the rabies problem relates to the public image
problem, which is also related to legality problems, to feral issues, etc.
etc. etc. All ferret issues are so intertwined that you really cannot
separate them into individual clubs or organizations. When you do, you only
take away from the rest and weaken the whole.
The idea of ferrets as pets went through its infancy and childhood in the
1960s an 70s. Its been an adolescent ever since. Its time we mature into
adulthood, and put aside those things of childhood,those petty and immature
arguments, to form an international coalition of ferreteers, dedicated to
the protection of a dear and loving pet. And if the existing clubs cannot
or will not do it, then we need to form a new relationship that will.
Soapbox Bob and the 17 MO Ferrets of Distinction and Bravery.
[Posted in FML issue 1973]
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