Hello everyone, This is a letter of opposition sent to our next committee, the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee by the lobbyists for the California Waterfowl Association. As you can see from the letter, it's full of misinformation and completely baseless and false statements about domesticated ferrets and their ability to impact people and wildlife. The non-native argument is, of course, a total red-herring. Those Labrador retrievers they use to collect the ducks they've shot are not native to this country either. Nor is the Siamese cat or Arabian horse! And the claim that ferrets are "ravenous eaters of the eggs of California waterfowl." Really? On what basis? There are no feral ferrets in California, and absolutely no reports of impact on wildlife of any kind. How dare they make this unsubstantianed claim. It's completely outrageous that this kind of baseless statement is presented as fact to members of the legislature! Why would the wildlife departments in 7 states that recently legalized ferrets support such an action if ferrets were so deleterious to wildlife? The claim that ferrets "could easily escape and breed in the wild" completely ignores every survey done in this country on feral ferrets. They don't breed in the wild, in fact there are no feral ferrets anywhere in this country. Even stray ferrets are very rare, only occasionally encountered by humane societies and animal control mostly in urban environments. Ferrets are no threat to the environment, it's actually the other way around! Perhaps the most outlandish argument to this committee is the dire threat to children that ferrets pose and the old NY Department of Health information. They don't tell these committee members that the city council of NY voted IN FAVOR of lifting the ban and that the only reason the law wasn't changed was because the Mayor vetoed it! And to make this extremely lame argument in light of the ferrets relative safety to people and children after several well-publicized dog attacks in northern California makes the letter verge on the hysterical. And of course this organization wants to see ferret legalization held hostage to a $100,000.00 environmental study that is both unnecessary and unwarranted. Owners of other domesticated pets did not have to ante up such a figure! They know that the study will never be done because you are required to pay for it. Even if one of you won the recent lottery, the Fish and Game Commission has made it clear that the completion of the study doesn't guarantee a public hearing, nor does the public hearing guarantee a vote in our favor. Dealing with the current Fish and Game Commission is a waste of time. The rules change constantly, the ante is too high and the odds are way too long in favor of any kind of fair hearing. Californians for Ferret Legalization has withdrawn it's petition in front of the Commission. There will be no environmental document! Listen up Californians! You need to take this as a warning to redouble your efforts to get friends and family members to write to their State Assemblymember now. We have to counter this kind of false and inflammatory misinformation from a powerful group and the only way to do that in the absence of money is through sheer numbers. I urge you to not sit back and let this organization make criminals out of you, or threaten your pets, because of some false claims of a threat to their "sport". As you can see, this letter was also sent to the Governor's office so you can bet that should we get through this committee and through the Assembly, we'll have to fight them there as well. That's why you need to continue to collect those signatures! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Kenyon and Edelstein Legislative Advocates TO: Members of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee FROM: Alan L. Edelstein, Donald B. Gilbert, and Steven D. Cruz RE: SB 1093 (JOHANNESSEN) -- OPPOSE DATE: June 18, 2001 Our client, the California Waterfowl Association, is opposed to SB 1093 (Johannessen), which would circumvent preparing an environmental impact report on the impact of legalizing ferrets as determined necessary by the Fish and Game Commission, would grandfather in some of these non-native, predatory animals in a completely unenforceable manner, and would thereafter require the Fish and Game Commission to make a determination whether these weasels should be removed from the state's list of prohibited species. Ferrets are not native to California and, therefore, are a threat to California's native wildlife. Specifically, ferrets are ravenous eaters of the eggs of California waterfowl. SB 1093 has no provisions to ensure that "pet" ferrets will be locked up. But even if it did, they could easily escape and breed in the wild, where they could devastate native waterfowl populations. In addition to their threat to the environment, ferrets present a danger to public health, particularly to children in an urban environment. As the attached statement from the New York City Department of Health points out, ferrets can squeeze through small openings and unpredictably attack children and infants. SB 1093 is completely unenforceable and nonsensical. It provides that ferrets that are in the state on May 1, 2001 will be legal if they are spayed or neutered and vaccinated against rabies by January 1, 2002. The bill has absolutely no enforcement provisions. It does not say how a ferret is identified in order to verify when it arrived or was born in the state. Moreover, between May 1, 2001 and January 1, 2002, ferrets that have not been spayed or neutered and have not had a rabies vaccination will have amnesty and be free to roam. SB 1093 puts the cart before the horse. After legalizing the ferret, the bill charges the Fish and Game Commission with determining whether to take ferrets off of the prohibited species list. Since ferrets will have already been allowed in California without any provision for enforcing the limits in the bill, there will be no way to reverse the situation regardless of what the Commission determines. It is doubtful that ferrets will give themselves up or that those not neutered or spayed will stop having children if the Commission decides against them. Prior versions of ferret legislation as well as prior versions of SB 1093 required the Department of Fish and Game, in consultation with the Department of Health Services and the Department of Food and Agriculture, to conduct a comprehensive study of the impacts of legalizing ferrets in the state, including an estimate of the number of ferrets in California. The current version of SB 1093 tosses out that comprehensive study and simply requires the Commission to base its determination on "relevant information and public testimony." The bill ignores the fact that the Fish and Game Commission previously reviewed the situation and determined in April of 2000 that an environmental impact report is necessary as part of the consideration of legalizing ferrets. Ferret supporters have apparently decided not to comply with the Commission's determination. The proponents of ferret grandfathering often contend that 500,000 ferrets reside in California and that, therefore, no harm is done by legalizing them. Quite to the contrary, legalizing them would tend to make people feel freer to relax constraints on them, thereby increasing the likelihood of escape and the problems raised by the New York City Health Department. And, as mentioned above, there would be no way of ensuring that additional ferrets would not be added to the ranks. We would also point out that the assertion of 500,000 illegal ferrets is in serious dispute. Estimates of the true number are as low as 50,000. For the reasons stated above, our client, the California Waterfowl Association, respectfully asks for a "NO" vote on SB 1093. Enclosure cc: The Honorable Maurice Johannessen Consultant, Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee Greg Hurner, Consultant, Assembly Republican Caucus Linda Adams, Deputy Legislative Secretary, Governor's Office Governor's Office of Planning and Research David Bunn, Deputy Director, Department of Fish and Game +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Jeanne Carley Californians for Ferret Legalization 410 Mountain Home Rd. Woodside, CA 94062 (650) 851-3750 www.ferretnews.org [Posted in FML issue 3460]