I don't know how many (if any) FML people are in the Ann Arbor, MI
area, but you may want to pick up the July 23 issue of the A2 News.
 
It's got a big writeup on ferrets, accompanying a story about a four year
old who is undergoing a series of rabies shots after being bitten by a
ferret.  The little girl's father is vowing to "go after the Legislature
to stop this menace".
 
I can understand the feelings of a father whose child has been injured.
However, it seems odd to me that people who talk of ferrets as 'menaces'
are awfully hypocritical.  A 150lb Rottweiler or pit bull can do a lot
more damage than an entire pack of ferrets.  Yet the carpet sharks are
outlawed.  Has any explanation ever been given for this?
 
I say this at the risk of sounding like someone putting emotions above
reason.  I'm a new ferret owner, and I know that I would not advise any
family with small children to have them.  I don't allow people that I don't
know well to handle Cricket; the ferret mentioned above was euthanized
because of ignorance.  Its shots were all up to date, including rabies
shots.  Yet this father has not only killed a pet, but is also putting his
daughter through the pain of rabies shots because of an imagined threat.
Post-mortem rabies tests showed that the ferret was not rabid.
 
Has any reasonable explanation ever been offered for the prejudice the
uneducated hold against ferrets?
 
//Nan
[Posted in FML issue 1264]