Karen Wrote: >The organization involved is called Performing Animals Welfare Society >(PAWS). On the segment they discussed how wild animals used for >pets are dangerous becuase of the harm they can do to small children. >Unfortunately they used ferrets as one of the examples... > >email: [log in to unmask] >web addy: www.pawsweb.org >snail mail: > PO Box 849 Galt > CA 95632 Because some people only listen to degrees, texts, and journals, and since they will likely have vet texts handy folks can refer them to Page 3 in _Biology and Diseases of the Ferret, second edition_ , James Fox editor and author, Williams and Wilkins Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-683-30034-2 (See also pages 13 and 14 to see estimates of companion ferret numbers in the U.S., for of over 7 million in 1990.) and Page 2 in _Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents, Clinical Medicine and Surgery, second edition_, Katherine E. Quesenberry and James W. Carpenter editors and authors, Saunders Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7216-9377-6 and Page 3 in _Ferret Husbandry, Medicine & Surgery, John H. Lewington author and editor, Butterworth Heinemann Publishing, 2000, ISBN 0-7506-4251-3 Both of those also give multiple references, and I suspect that a bit of searching will find journal refs on origin of domestication to provide further support. Being able to give book titles and journal articles is VERY useful for any legal challenges, too, so if there is not already a list of these in the FML Archives or Ferretcentral.org or elsewhere it would be a BIG help to anyone facing legal challenges, local or larger, to have these handy, so if you find them, please, post them! Thanks much! Here are some of the listed refs with intriguing titles in the appendices of these sections which may be useful. I do not have time to look into them further at this time. I think Bob has mentioned some and think he did so here and elsewhere but I am so busy and tired recently with PT and healing that I don't trust my memory offhand without checking, so look. Anyway, here you are for a very few which might have promise: Apfelbach, R: Olfactory sign stimulous for prey selection in polecats. Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychol 1973; 33:270-273 Apfelbach, R, Wester U: The quantitative effect of visual and tactile stimuli on the prey-catching behavior of ferrets Putorius furo L). Behavior Processes 1977; 2:187-200 Poole TB: Some behavioral differences between the European polecat. Mustela putorius, the ferret, Mustela furo, and their hybrids. J Zool 1972; 166:25-35 Zeuner FE: A History of Domesticated Animals. NY, Harper & Row, 1963, pp 401-403 They list _The Velvet Claw_ but I don't recall it having domestication info. I'll have to look if I get time. Of course, there are more refs given, but for those want to start searching (a call out to folks near university libraries who wonder how they can help ferrets since younger college students often ask that question) . [Posted in FML issue 4497]