Chris, I copied this out of the Boston Magazine, as usual, could you keep me anonymous? I sent this back in April but never saw it make this list so I assume that you didn't get it. [I didn't] Dixie is doing well. Every morning I give her a treat (usually linatone or a drop of milk) while I'm making my lunch, but I make her roll over or sit up for it. Now if I'm in the kitchen doing dishes or whatever, I'll sometimes notice her frantically doing her tricks without any prompting in an attempt to get a snack. ***************************************************************************** "F" is a man living outside the law. His crime? Nicky and Stinky, two four-pound ferrets. Nicky, Stinky, and their ilk are the center of a small but intense controversy: Should the ferret-a mink-sized carnivore descended from the polecat-be legalized as a pet in Massachusetts? Yes, says Bruce Deane White, an Assonet ferret lover who started a ferret rescue center about two years ago and last year placed 40 ferrets in out-of-state homes. "They're a lot of fun," White says. Pokey, his favorite ferret, climbs his leg and licks his nose when White returns home from work. (He has a license that allows him to keep ferrets for educational purposes.) No, says Walter Kilroy, director of law enforcement for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Ferrets should remain outlaws. Kilroy worries that non-animal lovers will buy the ferrets for their exotic cachet and soon tire of them. Kilroy, who has seen ferrets selling for as little as $29.95, imagines an army of abandoned ferrets rampaging through the state. Ferret advocates talk of the animals' intelligence, sense of fun, and devotion to humans. Ferret foes tell of the creatures' documented attacts on infants, their susceptibility to rabies, and their powerful, musky, stink. Ferrets are legal in most states. But Bay State ferret owners risk a fine of at least $50 and up to 30 days in prison (although no one has ever done time). Owners dread the midnight knock on the door by the ferret cops, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Tom French, the division's assistant director for nongame and endangered species, says his agency would "seriously consider" supporting pro-ferret legislation if a rabies vaccine were available. (The word in ferret circles is that one might be available this spring, although French is skeptical.) Meanwhile, an estimated 2,000 ferrets are at large as pets in Massachusetts. [As the myths have been debunked here before (infant attacks, rabies), I won't bother now. Other than to point out that the US *has* recently certified a rabies vaccine for ferrets. The article is a bit dated.] [Posted in FML 0107]