Hi! It's Denise, now moved out of the FFZ of Minneapolis, MN and in a nearby suburb! The city hall here said there's no prohibition of ferret ownership, so I'm "out of the closet" now. I posted a question a little while ago about taking care of a ferret for my SO until he moved in a couple of months, and someone responded that the furries might miss each other. I mentioned this to my SO, and he said if that happened, he just might have to let me keep the little guy, and get one himself after he moved! Naturally, I was not averse to this suggestion, so I now have another 4-month-old male sable. This one's named Randall, and he and Rocko occasionally scrap, but I rarely hear any "complaints" from either of them. I remember reading that 2 ferrets got into less trouble than 1, because they had each other to play with. Well, Rocko nips my feet less (maybe he just grew out of it), but they seem to get into trouble _together_ now! They tag-team the kitchen garbage can, trying to raid it for snacks, and yesterday they stole my wallet and scattered the cards everywhere! Since I just got the Ferret World catalog mentioned in the STAR* Ferret Database, I suspect they were trying to get my credit card and call in an order. :) They've napped together, curled up next to/on each other - aw, how cute! On a not-as-nice topic: Minneapolis Animal Control forbids ferret ownership because they say that no company will guarantee that the rabies vaccine is effective on ferrets. So, I've been in contact with Troy Lynn (hugs to your furries!) and Dr. Williams, and have come up with the 1-800 number of the manufacturer, a 1980 CDC report on ferrets and rabies, 2 Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Assoc. articles (plus a pointer to a compendium of rabies info there), the numbers of some other "ferret activists," and probably some other things that I'm forgetting. Anyone else have any ideas on info I can get? It was suggested to me that FURO has a collection of rabies/legalization info; does anyone have any info on how good this is? I'm also joining DEFFBAM and GCFA (Greater Chicago Ferret Assoc; my SO lives there). Someone suggested that if I could get Mpls Animal Control's statement in writing, that the manufacturer may be able to sue for libel. At least it'd be better "proof." Also, they'd passed the buck for this "no guarantee" info to the state dept. of health, so I've requested that they send me any info on this. The person I talked to from their epidemioloy dept. said she didn't know anything about that - I hope that's a good sign! Seeing that St. Paul allows ferrets with permits and permission, I'd guess that they either don't require ferrets to get rabies vaccinations, or this misinformation was _not_ given out by the state. I'm going to check out the other suburbs here and see what their laws are; I know that Hopkins and Golden Valley prohibit them, but not why. I'll let everyone know how it goes, and I'll definitely give kudos to everyone who helps with resources. Final happy note: Illinois is among the states who quarantines a rabies-vaccinated ferret who bites! I took Randall to a vet there while I was visiting, and the rabies handout included this statement: "...[S]ince the state now recognizes the [Pittman Moore] Imrab [3] vaccine as effective in ferrets, if a VACCINATED ferret should bite someone, it would not be destroyed, but rather treated as a dog or cat and quarantined at home for a 10 day period with veterinary exams at the beginning and end of the quarantine period." Equal rights for ferrets - Denise ...and Rocko and Randall, 4-month-old male sable ferrets (Boxes of things everywhere! Yay! Lots of things to explore! You get that one, and I'll start on this pile...) and Grumpy, ~1-year-old teddy bear hamster (Too wild for me...) [Posted in FML issue 0909]