Well, it has been years since I last posted and living in California,
it always was a gamble. Now we have moved to Texas and we miss nothing
about CA, just our two children that stayed behind.
Back in 1995 we were busted for having ferrets. If you would like to
read that story, it is still posted on
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/Ferretlessinca/
the e-mail address is incorrect, but the story is not fiction. We were
on probation for two years, in which the CA Fish Fuzz could have come
into our house at any time without a search warrant. Needlessly to say
that we did not have ferrets at our house during those two years. Lami
died of old age during this time, away from us, it broke my heart. Right
when our probation was going to be over in March of 1998, the person that
took care of Sid, called me and let me know that he had the early signs
of adrenal. I had Sid flown to the Oregan Ferret Shelter in Portland and
we drove up to see him. The wonderful owner said that she would get him
the surgery and when he was healthy, we could smuggle him back to
California.
Nothing prepared me for what we were about to see. There was nothing
early about his signs of adrenal. The poor little ferret was totally
bald, I was crushed. The vet scheduled the surgery for the next day.
We spend all day with Sid and then had to go back home. They didn't know
if he was going to make it through the surgery. The next day I called
and was told the surgery was a success and he would be able to recover.
Well, Sid never made anything easy, that night, he tore out most of the
stitches and had to go to the emergency vet and be restitched.
The next week, we got to pick him up and smuggle him back home. I swore
that if they caught us, I would run and they would have to shoot me in
the back and pry this ferret out of my dead hands. We had Sid ever since
he was 7 weeks old and he had gone through so much, there was no way I
was going to let the Fish Fuzz have him again. Thank goodness, we did
not get caught.
He had a great recovery and the end of 2000, he developed another cancer
and the vet told us that he could not operate. By now, Sid was 10 years
old and the vet said to just keep him comfortable through his last few
month. We have always had bad luck with holidays and previously had lost
a dog on Valentines day. Valentines day 2001, Sid got really bad, he
didn't want to move around anymore and would just laid there. He didn't
seem to be in pain, he just seemed to give up. I had to go to work that
day, but my husband stayed with him. He held on until I got home. I sat
there, holding him and talking to him, crying my eyes out. I don't think
that he wanted to die on Valentines day, adding another bad memory to
this holiday. We sat up with him past midnight. My husband had the TV
on and "Meet Joe Black" was on. I don't know if you have ever seen this
movie, but at one point, Joe is in the hospital, talking to this old
lady that wants to die. She asks Joe to please let her die and at that
point, I asked God to please let Sid go, he had been through so much and
deserved to cross over. And God answered my prayer, Sid looked up at me
as to say, it's ok, I am ready and he went to sleep. We buried him in
California, a state that made his life miserable and did not appreciate
him. I miss him so much. The last three years that we spend with him,
were worth breaking the law again. I swore that nobody was ever going
to take my ferrets away from me again. I have a memorial painted on the
back window of my car (after Sid died), it has a picture of Sid and Lami
with the dates that both died. It says: "Died in Exile". I drove this
truck every day and I would tell everybody the story that would ask about
the picture. It is amazing how ignorant people in CA are, most do not
even know that ferrets are illegal and know people that have them.
We drove out of CA the end of August 2002 with 16 cats, 1 dog and 5
ferrets and did not look back.
FREEDOM
Ilona, formerly Ferretless in CA
[Posted in FML issue 4046]
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