You folks are terrific!
 
I printed out yesterdays (by the time you read this it will be yesterday's)
FML, and all the notes I got and took them to Jane today.
 
Jane is so touched by the notes and show of support she is receiving from
all who wrote.  She was *floored* when I told her that the FML went out at
2am and by 6:30am NY time there were notes from three people in my mailbox,
one of which was from Sam Young in New Zealand, who had already set up a
web page with the story (and a guestbook!), and was just waiting for an OK
to set up official links to it.  It is at:
 
http://users.1st.net/hammock/ferrets/wchester.htm
 
Please stop by and sign the guestbook; I will be printing the entries out
for Jane as they come in.
 
Today the Westchester Journal ran a story on their ferret with a picture of
Jane.  (She does not have pictures of Tickles.) I have sent them an email
asking permission to reproduce the story on the website (it didn't appear
on the www.nyjournalnews.com site) and hopefully they will ok that.  The
story notes that Animal Control Officer Earl Price didn't realize the animal
was domesticated.  Police Chief Kaplica said training would be enhanced to
make clear that ferrets are pets and not indigenous to this area.
 
You see folks, here in Westchester County we have this big problem with
wild animals running around wearing collars and bells, impersonating pets,
so it's quite understandable to see how Earl Price might think a ferret
sporting a pink harness and three jingle bells (which he was still wearing
at the time Price released him "into a wooded area") was actually a wild
animal.  Yep, deer, raccoons, squirrels, you name it, they run around
Westchester County wearing collars, harnesses, and bells.  Uh-huh.
 
How dumb do the police think WE are??  This is not a training issue!  This
guy didn't *care*!  In my opinion, the only thing additional training will
do, is motivate Price not to document his actions and not to get caught.
Training is not the answer.  Neither is disciplinary action.  (The article
notes that Price has been disciplined, but Chief Kapica declined to comment
on what that discipline was.) He needs to be *fired*.  Jane summed up my
feelings quite well in one of her letters to the Greenburgh Town Board when
she said, "I want this man to never again have so much as a goldfish placed
into his care."
 
She has a copy of the police reports, and we discussed varous directions
this can go in.  (Can't say more about the details right now, but will
post more on that as the issues become 'official'.)  Yes, the local humane
societies know.  Yes, they are ticked.  All I'm going to say in general is
that we have to be careful what info and names get released (news wise), in
part because when the dust settles from this the local folks, who have been
nice have to go on working, and for many of them that means interacting
with the police dept.
 
Special thanks go out to Sam Young for the website, Sharon Pease for all
the work you did today, Margie Szelmeczka for the many suggestions and kind
words, and to Jean Caputo-Lee, who had offered to bring them a ferret all
the way from Ohio when she comes next week.  To anyone I didn't thank
privately, thanks!  I think I got back to most of you, my appologie to any
I've missed, it's been rather hectic today.
 
Jane BTW is a freelance illustrator, she does childrens books.  I got her
to show me some of her work, it is just *beautiful*!  And she has some
'downtime' coming up, so I am trying to convince her (not hard at all!)
that she can do some ferret artwork (maybe those temporary tattoos I
suggested over the summer) to fill in that time.  If she does, I'll let
everyone know.
 
One last note-FWIW, this was not their only pet (not of course, that that
diminishes the loss they feel), they have an assortment of animals,
including a dog, two surviving ferrets, a rabbit, a hedgehog and some
really cute mice.  But they are not looking to get another ferret right
now.
 
exhausted from today, signing off...
-Ilena Ayala
[Posted in FML issue 2493]