Although I've emailed and spoke to some of you on the list, I have yet to make a post. I feel I should make this post to let you know of a project I'm working on. We operate a ferret shelter (Ferret Haven of Texas). We live next to a city which is a ferret-free zone (Beaumont, TX). I'm trying to get together all the information I can to help in legalizing ferrets in Beaumont. There was a recent problem where we picked up a ferret in Beaumont which was lost and we feared we wouldn't be able to find the owners since they may be scared to make "lost ferret" signs being that they are illegal and Beaumont does throw a stink. Happily, we found the owner who was visiting from out of town and during the holiday bustle of people coming and going, the ferret got out of the house. This was a perfectly healthy and very happy looking ferret so we were glad to reunite them. This happened on Christmas day!!! Nice ending...not so nice for others. At any rate, the animal control officer of Beaumont does not like ferrets and when we challanged him, he said they were "wild and vicious" and he didn't want a huge ferret "epidemic" in Beaumont. I asked him if the neighboring cities where ferrets were legal had this "epidemic" of ferrets....he didn't know...how could he know, he said. He missed my point. So, I'm now contacting every single governing board I can to provide me with statements saying that ferrets are domestic, there is an approved rabies vaccine and that they are companion animals. Any help is apprecitated. I thought some of you may have information or articles that I don't have. I'd really love to hear from Beaumont city residents who will be willing to fight with us. Wish us luck and we'll keep you informed of how we're doing!!!! Lori Goats Ferret Haven [Posted in FML issue 1810]