I, too, talked with Suzanne Albert from Jack Grigor's office. She was very nice, polite, and professional, and was open-minded about receiving more officially acceptable evidence to justify affecting her office's behaviour. This message represents my recollection of the call and what she said; I think I remember things ok. The 3 most important factors affecting their decision-making process in bite incidents are: 1) Shedding studies. I mentioned that there were animals (such as the horse) for which studies had not been done, but that nevertheless were routinely treated differently (say, quarantine & observation). I'm not absolutely sure she was aware of the horse case before I mentioned it to her, but she responded that domestic farm animals are treated differently because they are classified differently by the Compendium for Animal Rabies Control (I think the source for that is ASPHV). I don't have a copy of the Compendium to check her assertions, but that leads to the next item: 2) The Compendium for Animal Rabies Control. Suzanne says ferrets are not classified therein the same as other animals (dogs, cats, horses, etc). I thought that this had been changed in recent years, but I don't have the Compendium. She says different rules govern ferrets by virtue of their classification -- this seems to be the main point. It seems she (or her office) also has some question of whether ferrets are classified (by the Compendium and whatever other *approved* sources, of which I think we should get an exhaustive list) as exotic or domestic (though this point alone may not be enough -- the main question is apparently how the *rules* apply; I haven't read the Compendium, so I don't know the language). I did tell her that every source I'd looked at classified them as domestic. 3) CDC (Center for Disease Control) advice. This is apparently another major factor in their decision making process. I should have asked her what reports she's looking at. Other points: She said Imrab itself puts a disclaimer on the ferret rabies vaccine, and she said (when I asked) that other animals do not have such a disclaimer on their vaccines. I mentioned there were only 12 (or was it 16?) cases of rabies since 1950, but she indicated that scientific studies or analysis of that hadn't been done, or some such. (I personally agree that the comparisons with dogs and cats need to take into account animal populations for each year and normalize, rather than a straight sum and normalize, as I've seen people do, ignoring population changes, but I didn't say that to her). She verified that her office does have a Maryland bite case at this time. She indicated that she sees the point ferrets are indoor animals, but there is no absolute guarantee that a bite animal has not escaped at some point or that the owner is not intentionally withholding escape information (I mentioned the latter point, perhaps only too fairly). She asked me what I would do in her office's situation, and (off the top of my head) I said given the European studies (in conjunction with the 25 days elapsed, but I didn't mention that) along with the strong probability of complete indoor living, I would declare the possibility of rabies as so close to zero as not to warrant the kill & test. I think her question about what I would do is a fair one. She indicated (when I asked) that their office does get ferret bite cases regularly, though she didn't have the exact figures in front of her. She said the European studies are not conclusive; I should have asked whether the holdup there was scientific or just getting officially approved American sources to agree with the studies (or even whether there is such a possibility), or both. Apparently, she is not (at least directly) a ferret hater. I stress again she was nice, polite, and professional. I would suggest the best tack would be to try to send any official documents and points we have providing "approvable" evidence to change her office's behavior by US mail or to her FAX number (410 669 4215). Todd Cromwell Dors (Hunter of Small Plastic Bottles) and Seldon (El Cazador de Sueno) [Posted in FML issue 1080]