This post from Tequita stopped me in my tracks, so to speak, and gave me pause to think . . . and after thinking a bit there came the realization that I really am ignorant of the chief difference between a therapeutic animal and a service animal. How about you, Pilgrim? >Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:15:45 -0700 >From: Tequita Williamson <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: ferret used as service animal denied access to mall.. [Quoted from article mentioned in the above post. It can be found at: <http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/10/14/article/pet_that_helps_disabled_man_draws_controversy> BIG] >Leann said that it is frustrating to be turned away because of the >ferret. She said she tried to get certification from the state, but >was turned down because North Carolina considers the ferret a >therapeutic animal and not a service animal. About the best I can make of it is this: an animal that is therapeutic somehow influences in another animal or human certain feelings, behavior, or even sensations of possible healing and the easing of passionate bereavement or emotional stirrings of love for another. So simply stated, a therapeutic animal does a head job, as in mind over matter, and may somehow produce healing of physical and psychotic illness. Consider the dolphin and the killer whale (our Orca out here in Pacific waters). The service animal offers an entirely different benefit I would think. And foremost is the service dog who is trained to provide safe and secure passage through our societal maze, especially for the unsighted. When one considers a service animal, perhaps most of us picture, in our mind's eye, the so called, seeing-eyed dog. There are also other servicers too, such as the Australian shepherd, which, in response to the sheepherder's vocabulary of mouth whistles, will run hither and thither upon a given whistle command and roundup, collect, and/or stampede a herd of sheep in a manner directed by the sheepherder. In this case, the dog is providing a service to a human being. Then too, there's the sentry servicer, a very large dog the name of which I know not. His service is to attack and run down any coyote or wolf that makes its appearance during calving season, thus protecting the newly dropped calves and birthing mother cows. With all this in mind one may find it difficult to fit the lowly ferret into the servicing class of animals. Given the perception of most folks relating to servicing animals, as I have shown above, it is quite understandable why ferrets are rejected as servicers in a shopping mall or other commercial business. The only instance of employing the ferret as a service animal is to use it on behalf of mankind and children in the digging out, or should I say, ferreting out, old, leftover munitions and land mines on forgotten battlefields. Yea even on active, waring battlefields, such as in Afghanistan and Iraq. The use of trained, de-mining ferrets could very well save the lives of NATO Coalition soldiers fighting for (?) President Barack Hussein Obama . . . and for you and me too. Another example of service ferret is its use in ridding areas (houses and businesses) of mice, rats, and other vermin. Along with this is the benefit to man in the hunting ferret that flushes out rabbits from their warrens into the hands of the meat and pelt hunter. Beyond my understanding is the so-called seeing-eye ferret, that on a limp, fabric or plastic leash line, can signal of pathway obstacles, say on a paved sidewalks or other vehicle or pedestrian traffic-ways. In my limited experience leash walking ferrets, they definitely prefer the untrodden traffic ways, the adjacent, unpaved borders of sidewalks. The simple reason for this is the natural scenting behavior of the ferret in satisfying its innate olfactory instinct. To put it another way, the ferret simply wants to go where the most stink is. All different kinds of stink. Considering the therapeutic ferret for a moment, in addition to the case cited by Tequita (ferret seemed to becalm her husband) we have our very own therapeutic ferret right here. Yeah . . . right here on this very list. Well, sort of. Her name is SarahFerret[SF], and although strictly speaking she doesn't have all that much fur and only a very, very, very short tail (just kidding), her therapy for mourners of the Dearly Departed (D / D) is obviously very healing and therapeutic indeed. >Dear SarahFerret [SF] > >Would you please greet our Addypos and show her the way to the New >Zealand Ferret Clan. She will be arriving on a beautiful big blue >dragon. We lost our Addypos last night, she crossed over, . . . I'll have to admit that my first impression of SarahFerret [SF] was astonishment and a soft anger. All that bemoaning the dead ferret crossing the rainbow bridge to ? where ever, where in due time the ferretress, upon her demise, would Nirvana with her beloved ferret(s) somewhere out there (Valhalla, maybe?). Now this is indeed therapeutic. Doesn't make much sense, but it is indeed therapeutic for some. Just how stupid could one be? I'll tell you here and now -[SF's] mournings for D/D ferrets- is intensely therapeutic for the bereaved ferretress/ferreter. Why didn't someone tell me what was going on before this, huh? I had to figure it out all by myself. [SF] is a ferret therapist! Some help you guys/girls are! Edward Lipinski at Ferrets North West, Mercer Island, Washington state. Plato wrote: Those to Whom We Say Farewell, are welcomed by others.* * Lipinski's note: Plato's real name, Aristocles named as the son of Ariston, is no smarter than you in suggesting a conscious afterlife, once room temperature is reached. [Posted in FML 6499]