Ferrets came into my life when I was dating someone that owned ferrets. It was about 5 years ago, and at that time, I lived in a suburb near San Francisco, very near Berkeley, actually, and a reference to Berkeley and California Fish and Game that I read in a posting prompted me to write this. My girlfriend would bring her ferret when she came to stay with me, and I, not being an experienced ferret owner, had not ferret proofed my abode. You can quess the next part: one day her ferret escaped. We launched an intensive campaign to find her ferret. During the first few hours, perhaps we were a little less public than we could have been fearing attracting the attention of California Fish and Game, as my girlfriend had heard many stories, stories that she would tell me in a hushed voice in the still of night when all the lights were off, including how Fish and Game agents would enter residences without warrants and seize ferrets to be destoyed. That sounded rather unconstitutional to me, but then, it is easy to believe Orwellian stories for some strange reason. It was not long before we abandoned all caution and begain placing posters on street posts and flyers on doorknobs. I think it was two, maybe three, days later when our efforts proved fruitful, and we received a call from someone nearby that had recovered her ferret. Unfortunately, she had never seen anything like a ferret and called Califonia Fish and Game who had sent an agent to retrieve my girlfriends precious little baby. Pitting desperation against hope, I called the local Fish and Game Office, and was directed to the nearby wildlife shelter, which of course, was a part of the fish and game department. I drove there immediately, was let in after hours, and was handed the precious baby after only being asked sufficient questions to ascertain that I was the rightful owner (technically, I wasn't). I felt like kissing every fish and game agent there, which surely WOULD have gotten me arrested. I later made several trips to the wildlife shelter after that, as it was a wonderful place to see injured golden eagles, mountain lions, bobcats, and more, and my daughter ultimately became a volunteer at the facility. Calfornia Fish is Game is loathe to destroy any animal, even a destructive mountain lion, let alone someone's precious pet. It is their policy to make every attempt to return lost ferrets; they never actively seek out ferrets or ferret owners. They really do have better things to do. Also, if you are caught attmepting to bring a ferret into California at an Ag inspection station, which would be unusual as very few cars are ever stopped, I certainly never have been, your ferret will not be taken from you as long as you turn around. You are free to try another route or the same route again a few hours later. The rest of the story is that my two-legged relationship ended rather badly, but when my girlfriend departed, she left her ferret with me, who by that time had another furry friend to snuggle with when I was not around. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. The sky is not falling and we all are not going to die from chicken flu either. [Moderator's note: If only we were all so lucky. F&G has indeed been quite difficult at times! BIG] [Posted in FML issue 5049]