Four people dead of ferret bites is more like the international history of such deaths... Nor is there any record, anywhere of a ferret passing rabies on to anyone else, though they can contract it. The swiftboating of ferrets on Anderson Cooper's show went way over the top. Of course, ferrets have been falsely slimed before, but people would like to think better of shows on what are supposed to be news channels. I am hoping for folks here that either the AFA or IFC websites, or both, got around to putting up the AFA's Dr. Freddie Anne Hoffman's two excellent data compilations of bite and of rabies stats, worked from such reputable sources as state health departments and the CDC. Websites are usually maintained by volunteers, though, so things can take time for the obvious reasons that most volunteers are overworked and also obviously have their own lives. BTW, Dr. Hoffman is a pediatrician. Dr. Hoffman has compiled the Annual Rabies Statistics from 1980 - 2001 [Number of FERRETS and other Animals with RABIES in the USA]. NOTE THAT THESE ARE RABIES FIGURES, NOT BITE STATS. In most years there have been no ferrets found to have rabies in the U.S. In fact, over that entire time there were 20 cases in total, giving an annual figure of less than one in a population of about 10 million ferrets in the U.S. Compare that to cats (an average of 229 cases per year in a population of about 60 million), dogs (140 per year in a population of 57 million, averages per year of 250 cases in livestock and of 38 in rodents or rabbits. FYI: the human rate over those years is about 2 cases per year in a population of about 225 million. Most cases of rabies in humans is of bat strains and usually gray bat. (Remember, though that most bats are healthy and that they are best pest control that exists for mosquitos, followed by purple martins, so bats save markedly more human lives than they ever place at any risk.) These figures are worked from the data of the CDC. Furthermore, in 1991 Dr. Hoffman compiled data for an article in "FDA Veterinarian" which looked at the reported numbers for serious bites. When the bite rates of ferrets were compared to those of dogs PER CAPITA ANIMAL (i.e. adjusted for population size) ferrets had about 1/200th the risk rate of dogs, working from data from the CDC and JAVMA. "These statistics were compiled from 1978-1988 and were reported on a yearly basis: between one and three million dog bites, compared with 65 ferret bites in 10 years. Serious bite injuries were recorded as 44,000/year for dogs and 12/year for ferrets. Severe facial injuries requiring plastic or reconstructive surgery number 16,000/year for dogs and 12/year for ferrets". The estimate at that time for the dog population was 50 million, and the estimate for the ferret population was 3 million, so the rate for dogs was 8.8 bites/year per 10,000 dogs versus 0.04 bites/year per 10,000 ferrets. Here are some official resources to help people including the 2005 "Compendium of Animal Rabies Control and Prevention": http://www.avma.org/pubhlth/rabies_compendium_2005.pdf and http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Ques&Ans/q&a.htm Does anyone have the direct address to write to that CNN show? We don't watch it; it became obvious too soon to us that the fact checking was really lax. In fact, we have noticed even an apparent decrease in fact checking in Aaron Brown's show in recent months, leading us to watch it less often, also depending on when they are covering actual news or getting side-tracked away from what matters in the long run for most people's lives by the latest tacky sensationalism. That is a real loss for us since we had greatly enjoyed that particular news show. Producers' "fluffification", I suspect... (Hey, the "news" in recent years deserves the creation of new words and phrases: "Fluffification", "to fluffify", "slight of tongue" instead of "slight of hand" "slim-slam" for the flim-flam that brings us watered down news and sensationalism which divert us from real news. You name it!) I am afraid that Anderson Coopers' fluff isn't just on his head (His hair is what I most like about him.); it's in his head if he doesn't put down his foot and demand better fact checking. At least it is still dramatically more accurate than Fox cable news... Many THANKS to Larraine, Fran, Pete, and Wolfy (Becca) who have just sent out their letters to APHIS in support of ferret-specific standards! As more and more letters come in to them we have more and chance of ending some of the worst sadnesses and frustrations of the ferret world. When we work together we are very powerful! http://www.ferret.org/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/ edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/05-15516.htm http://docket.epa.gov/edkfed/do/EDKStaffCollectionDetailView? objectId=0b0007d4809252bb (comments take up to 72 hours to appear if done as ann e-docket and up to 5 days to appear if sent as snail mail) and don't forget that Alexandra has offered to help edit and spell check the letter of anyone who would not write otherwise or who would appreciate her kind help: <[log in to unmask]> . Now, if only they COULD be delivered in novel ferret fashion... Big hugs to Hope, Guardian of Hope, who remembered all of these little ones who can be helped! Sympathies to all who have recently had very hard times; there than been more than few recently with lost parents or other human family members, lost ferrets, lost jobs, serious illnesses, and other hardships. All that I can say is that time does help, and even one dear friend who has pretty much walked into and through (and now out the other side) of such an extreme series of hardships that the years of pain are unfathomable did wind up eventually walking out the other side and re-finding the joy in life. -- Sukie (not a vet) Ferret Health List http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org International Ferret Congress http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 4977]