[BIG--If the issue is closed, don't post this] Sorry to bring this up again but... Re the MD MD and his lack of knowledge. I believe you miss the point of D.E.'s post Mssrs. Foreit, Beiter, Cato, and Thomas. What is your collective goal? To publicly skewer a state official, or to further the rights of M. furo and their owners? Attacking a single person--an employee of the state of Maryland--might promote the former but not the latter. Bombarding the office with phone calls, letters, and lawsuits will only put him on the defensive. He'll say that *his* concern was for a 12-year old girl and *not* for the wild animal. As Mlle. Kupkee notes, he's covering his derriere. I don't blame him one bit; if you were in his position would take even a one-in-a-million chance that ferret had some weird strain of something? No one (except we loony owners) will take the ferret's side in this brouhaha; "better the ferret than the child" will be the opinion of the majority. It doesn't matter to them what the European study demonstrates, and it doesn't matter that he might have looked into the facts. What will matter is that he was "protecting" a human life at the sacrifice of a mustilidae. There is some reason in that act. Ease off, remain rational, and enlighten as opposed to enrage. We're not going to *show* anyone anything. BTW--for what it's worth, Ms. Thomas, I think you did the right by agreeing to the vaccines. The slim chance of reaction isn't much compared to the odds of your buddies contracting the fatal disease. My buddies thank you too. [Posted in FML issue 1105]