Hey, South Carolina - congratulations on your new law! Wish N.C. had one like that! Unfortunately, our "powers that be" leave the decision as to whether "strays" are adoptable or not to the jurisdiction of ferret-ignorant local authorities. I'm told the State Vet is anti-ferret, & know from personal experience that he won't answer phone calls. Mostly, strays here are euthanized - whether or not they appear healthy; whether or not they bite anyone; whether or not the ferret shelters are willing to "take them off their hands" and whether or not people want to adopt them. Of course, they don't TELL you that - you get the "song & dance" about "following up on lost ferret reports," ferrets not meeting "adoption criteria," rabies/distemper, etc. And, of course, our ferret laws are so vague that no one wants to take responsibility for any non-party line decisions - so they just go by the State Vet's party line. Yes, I'm bitter. TriFl members just spent the past week trying to rescue a ferret that was found as a stray & turned over to a local APS. As the week wore on, they listened less and less, and by now, he is probably dead. I went over & checked him out the day after he was found. He was a very healthy appearing male who had obviously been someone's pet - nails were clipped, not even ear mites. He was a little thin, & scared - a little bit nippy (probably scared), but not the least bit vicious. I spent an hour talking to the shelter supervisor and gave him printed information about our shelter, ferret club, rabies in ferrets, etc., - followed by 2 telephone conversations with the Animal Control director with the same info., and a call to the breeder for possible identification. A ferret club member went over & tried to adopt him & was told he wasn't available for adoption because of "health concerns." Guess we've lost this war - his 5 day "quarantine" period expired today. Maybe someday we will be able to get better legislation written, but right now we're just feeling pretty hopeless & helpless. I can only hope things will be better "some day", but I'm not very encouraged! Karen [Posted in FML issue 1511]