Howdy: I have been reading with great interest the suggestions from various members regarding the creation of a concise and comprehensive document that supports ferret ownership. I believe that this is a great idea, and am volunteering myself for investigative duty. I work at Cornell University and spend a lot of time at the various libraries getting journal articles for my own research. I would be happy to hunt down articles detailing important ferret statistics for those who can supply me with the specific references. The following topics are probably most relevant: 1. Ferrets maim babies. 2. Ferrets are rabid. 3. Ferrets will escape and breed in the wild. Obviously, these seem to be the big guns as far as the anti-ferret lobby goes. I believe that with a modicum of effort we can get references that dispute this disinformation in a scientifically sound fashion. Though I work with another kingdom of organisms (plants), but I have a pretty good statistics background which should allow me to at least determine if the statistics are reasonable (I hope!). If I get enough recent and conclusive scientific studies in hand, I will try to consolidate the findings for a short newsletter or something. Also, if there are any topics which anti-ferret folks seem to rely upon, I would like to know of them so that they can be challenged as well. Any suggestions for me regarding the focus of such a venture? Ciao - DAVE and "the girls" [Posted in FML issue 0790]