Just a note about working with the city councils that insist, from time to time, on paying attention to our ferrets' legal status. We are the only ferret shelter in the Kansas City area and we have a good working relationship with several of the almost 50 departments of animal control in the metro area (some of these are a single officer who works part time). Many of them, including the Kansas City, MO animal shelter, let us know when they have ferrets and then surrender them to us. Some also place ferrets for adoption. Recently an emplyee of the city health department decided that ferrets needed to be licensed, just like cats and dogs. Although I testified before the council (they know me well) about the CDC doccumentation regarding ferrets and rabies, etc. the council decided to add ferrets to the existant cat and dog licensing ordinance that requires rabies vaccination (but not neuter or spay) and limits the total number of ferrets that may live in a single household. We may have up to 4 ferrets in addition to 4 cats and/or dogs. License fees are $7 for ferrets that have been neutered or spayed, more for those that are intact. People who currently have more than 4 ferrets are allowed to keep them but may not replace ferrets that die until their total number is down to 4. I have not seen this "grandfather" clause in writing and have voiced concern about the status of the shelter as we often have 40-50 ferrets here. Council members have basically patted me on the head and told me not to worry about it, but frankly, I think that we were better off before our ferrets had any legal status at all. There are no state licensing options. The long and short of it is that our ferrets have become a source of concern, and revenue, for the city of Kansas City, MO. Although we have never paid the city shelter for ferrets they surrender to us we recently received notice that a significant "rescue" fee will now be charged. If they insist on collecting such a fee from us it amounts to nothing less than ransom as ferrets we do not claim will surely be euthanized. I guess that my advise to shelters is lie low and do your job as well as possible without raising a lot of sand. This is not to say that we reject opportunities for TV, radio, or newspaper coverage. We do a segment or an article about once a year. But seeking legal status for your ferrets is not always a good thing. The CDC compendium guidelines regarding ferret bite have been adopted by most political agencies and ferrets are not as widely euthanized for testing as they were in the past. Ferrets are usually not euthanized here unless some fool, including certain agency administrative idiots, get pissed off beyond reason about a biting ferret. This cruel and unreasonable attitude is not going to be changed by an ordinance or law. Bobbi McC., KC Ferret Hotline Association and Shelter [Posted in FML issue 3559]