(BIG: you may want to move this to the end, as I anticipate it being quite
long--but I hope you post it. This is mostly from Dean Biggins viewpoint,
although we tried to stick to facts about the program, goals, and interesting,
although maybe trivial information, that people might find of interest. The
only agenda is to raise the general knowledge level--something I felt was in
short supply and possibly slow down knee-jerk reactions that could be even
more deadly to the BFFs. It is difficult to know what to do without having
different, opposing, or just more viewpoints.)
Dean Biggins was gracious enough to spend a couple hours with me on the phone
tonight in response to my request of more information pertaining to the BFFs. I
had made up a list of questions, but naturally the conversation persued its own
course--however, most if not all of them were answered. I was apprehensive at
first at how defensive he might be, admitting he was catching quite a bit of
heat lately, but found him to be quite nice, informative, and ready to tell you
the facts--good and bad. I was impressed with how he stood firm, refusing to
assasinate Carolyn's character, and willing to admit she had some good points.
I just wish I could have written as fast as we spoke.
We first started talking about what the release program with the older ferrets
was, and what types of goals they hope to accomplish. They intend on releasing
3 year old breeding stock who are near the end of their productivity. They need
information on survabiliy of kits born in the wild. Up to this point, they bred
the jills and raised the kits for release into the wild. They need to know how
well the kits would fare without being hand raised. So that there are enough
ferrets to have enough for release that might prove stastically meaninful, they
also intend on releasing some 4 year olds as well. They specifically chose the
older ferrets because at the moment the younger as much too valuable as breeding
stock. If this program fails, their loss would not be as detrimental to the
program--and the survivability of the species. Dean brought up this point
several times--he feels that this is the goal that is paramount. He felt that
at times Carolyn lost sight of this goal, having to worry and care for some of
ferrets individually. He said he hoped nobody has lost sight of the individual
ferrets, but admitted they occasionally have to take aggressive/quick steps,
such as forcing or encouraging them to hunt. This brought up the question of
whether any of her claims were valid, since she was so familiar with the ferrets
on a one to one level. Dean said yes.
He said that originally there were a few, such as the one without (or was that
badly chipped?) teeth or a couple with the bacterial infections, scheduled for
release. He said these will not be released and that the screening process
(working with a "whittle-down" approach) will catch more. There are even older
ferrets that were never and never will be considered for release. Naturally
this brought me to the big question. Just who is screening these ferrets and
apparantly in disagreement with Carolyn? He told me that 2 vets do the
screening (in retrospect, I forgot to ask if that means that both see every
animal). The first is Tom Thorm with Wyoming Fish & Game. The second, he said
was a unique asset. Astrid Bargas, after deciding that she wanted to do more
than practice VM, studied and became a biologist. She is with USF&W. He
further added that two other vets he would consider tops working with the
ferrets were (forgive me for butchering) Don Quikowski, and Linsey Phillips (no
longer with the program). Every BFF sight has either a Vet on staff, or on
contract. Furthermore, with regard to their health, I had to ask about withhold
the the medical records. He explained that the zoo ferrets had a very extensive
(ie 25 pages) of details. He said at the time, he was reviewing these records,
looking for trends etc and he thought he was giving her the information that was
pertinate as it was required. He also admitted to being glad he didn't give all
the records to her, because of the possiblity of using a few (more) islated
problems as ammunition. (IMHO, at least he is straightforwad and honest about
that.)
He also said that he agreed with Carolyn's claim that some type of program needs
to be developed for the ferrets that cannot be released back into the wild. His
estimate was about 1/2 the animals currently that the Pueblo facility. He
intends on making a similiar proposal (I interpreted as recommendation to be
done), but the decision is not his to make. Again, the red tape issue. I
suggested that there might be more ferrets than zoos, but he said that there are
currently only seven (Toronto, Nat Zoo, Louisville, Omaha, Co Spgs, Phoenix,
Joint Fed/State) that are working with them. While they produce 1/2 the kits,
most of them have been doing so, until recently, with their own expense and
humanitarian effort. He doesn't know of any others that would be willing to
help, but would very much like to. It was just last year that zoos were allowed
to exhibit the animals, which also allowed some federal funding to them. There
just are not enough cages at present in the zoos or on the Pueblo facility to
care for the older animals in the long term. This coupled with the value of the
younger breeding stock, who could be using the cages, necessitates some type of
retirement program. I had to ask about the possiblity of the governement's
possible reluctance to corporate sponsorship. He said they may have in the
past, but right now, with the funding problems, they would happily chase down
any possible leads. I am not sure about Endagered Species red tape though. He
also added that Carolyn had been very critical of USFW in newspaper articles
weeks before she made her proposal of the BFFLCC to them. He though this was
very bad strategy and though it might have had bearing on the decision to reject
the proposal.
At this point, I started scanning my list of questions. I asked how many
"similulated enviornment" type cages there were. He said the Pueblo facility
had the only one--and that was with resistance because of the cost. But it has
proved to be cost-effective, because the success rate other their releases are
around 40% as opposed to 10% elsewhere (and the 40% was taken through a full
winter). Somewhere in the conversation around here, Dean said that the aminals
were being overfed. When Carolyn was there, only two were hunting prairie dogs.
Now about 75% of the ferrets (don't know how many that is) are hunting. We also
discussed the lack of evidence that hand tame BFFs, lose their hunting/wild
instincts. There currently is no evidence to say one way or the other. (IMHO,
It was also refreshing to see Dean phrase it like this--straightforwardly
admitting there is indeed that possibility.)
We also talked about the releases. There are currently 3 promising sights in
the US that could support a population of about 50 to 60 ferrets. There is
still the problem with poisonings etc, even on federal land, and naturally the
fight with the ranchers who hate the prairie dogs. He said that this is one of
the more difficult undertakings, but that if something dramatic happens the
prairie dogs have a remakable ability to repopulate--and support more ferrets.
I was floored with the fact that the most promising sight for release is in
Mexico! In Chihuaha, there is apparantly a huge prairie dog city and they are
planning on releasing some there. This could be an interesting topic to persue.
He told me how they use the transponder chips to identify the ferrets, if they
are recaputed, as well as the genetic work such as DNA testing to determine
family lines. They also use radio collars to track the animals from 1 to 2
months after they are released, tracking thier position every 3 to 5 minutes.
He said this is difficult with a burrowing animal, because the collars can only
reach about 2 feet deep, although they have had some luck up to 6 feet.
Apparantly the prairie dogs dig very deep burrows. There are only about 25
known BFFs in the wild (the ones that have been released). The could be more,
but a normal ferret might only come above ground for about 1 hour in the middle
of the night. The single most important thing anybody could do to help the
project is hand over a wild BFF to add to the breeding stock. There had been
extensive inbreeding, but said, after conversing with geneticists, the bad
effects wouldn't show up until the 5th or 6th generation--still a year or two
down the road. They do not yet know the consequences. Dean said they did have,
until they starting re-releasing, a $10,000 bounty. Naturally they didn't want
their own ferrets captured, but said that would almost definately still be
honored because new blood would be so important. I wondered who I would be
talking to that actually accept the money (ie take from the program) though.
We closed the conversation discussing the changing political climate, noting the
fact the USFW and Endangered Species act were soon to come under congressional
scrutiny. Some of the changes could be good, but the hard fact is they have to
brace themselves. They were already told to expect a minimum of 10% and up to
30% budget cut this coming year and fears the possible elimation of the US
Biological Service. He also said he had been getting many calls who just
regurgitate what Carolyn has been saying. He really doesn't know how to respond
to this. Please, if you have any good questions feel free to call and discuss
it with Dean. He was more than willing to offer his time. I was under the
impression he would correct or get second opinions on any specific allegations.
Both he and Carolyn are working for the BFFs.
As I wrote this, A few more questions came to mind. I intend on calling him
back, but would like to add any specific questions (diplomatically phrased,
please) that the FMLers might have. I would also like to have a second source
to verify alot of what was brought up. Is anybody familiar with any of the Vets
names I have dropped? I would hope they have the most objective position. Dean
hopes that at least this big ruckus about the BFFs have at least raised
awareness. He said they couldn't have survived this long this well without the
volunteers like Carolyn. I didn't ask him what he though to best way to support
it or best place to send money to was, but I can find out that as well, if you
like. I have also heard (I forgot to ask Dean about it, but intend to) that the
US Humane Society has endorsed Carolyn's viewpoint. I was wondering if anyone
knew how much investigating they have done to this point and what their findings
are? The search isn't finished, but I hope I presented a good approach we can
use to get to the bottom of this--I found only a few conflicting facts, but so
far most is a matter of interpretation. The more input we get, the better we
can form our own opinions--and mine isn't yet fully developed.
Danny Williams
[Posted in FML issue 1212]
|
