Yesterday I was sounding off about the ferret kept in a 10-gallon aquarium in a local pet store. Thanks to very helpful info from some of my fellow FML'ers and Floridians, I have reported this pet store to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The Commission has a series of laws concerning the housing of many "wildlife" animals, including ferrets. The statutes do specifically name ferrets several times. This store is clearly in violation of these statutes. They require a 4' x 5' x 3' high enclosure for one or two ferrets. Personally, I think a store should be allowed a smaller enclosure, but a 10-gal tank clearly doesn't cut it. The statutes even require that a toy of some sort be placed in the cage! It also appears that a license is required to sell ferrets. I hope that we can get something accomplished - get the owners fined, get their license to sell ferrets revoked, and most of all, get decent housing for these poor ferrets. Any reward money I get for this (yes, Florida does offer rewards) will be donated to needy shelters. For those who are curious, Florida classifies ferrets as wildlife that may be owned for personal use without a permit (their words, my paraphrasing). So nobody thinks this is another California, the list also includes hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, canaries, and many other animals we think of as domestic. For those who are *really* curious, here is the link to the relevant statutes: http://floridaconservation.org/q&a/captive.html. Roger Digger and Bear [Posted in FML issue 3655]