I visited the Sierra Club's webpage on the effort to block the legalization of ferrets in California. In response to their page, I sent this email to the address listed on the page: >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: California Legislative Alert #97-5 >X-Url: http://www.sierraclub.org/chapters/ca/sc-calif-alert/1997/0005.html > >To quote your LegAlert #97-5: >"Though Sierra Club California does not normally become involved pet >ownership issues, we strongly oppose this bill and urge you to contact your >representative and ask them to block its passage." > >I urge you to reconsider your organization's position on AB 363 and resume >your typical stance of non-intervention on pet related issues. > >Until learning of your position on AB 363, I have always respected the >Sierra Club as an organization. But now that I find your organization >has such a clearly uninformed and unfounded stance on the legalization of >ferrets, I have lost the respect that I did have for the Sierra Club. > >Why do I feel that your stance is unfounded and uninformed? Ferrets have >been domesticated for thousands of years. We know that because ferrets >are mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman texts. Ferrets have been used >as working animals for much of that time and so when the Europeans >crossed the ocean to settle this continent, ferrets as well as cats, dogs, >and other animals came with them. > >For the hundreds of years that ferrets have been on this continent, you can >only document 1 instance of a feral ferret population which existed on San >Juan Island in the 1970's. If the average domesticated ferret could >survive in viable feral populations there would be far more documented >cases. The fact that you say that you don't have an idea as to the extent >of feral ferret communities because a study has not been done on feral >ferrets is a bit ludicrous. For one, there are no populations of feral >domestic ferrets to study in this country. Secondly, every animal that the >ferret, if there were feral populations of domestic ferrets, would compete >with, prey on, or be prey of have been studied. Have any of the biologists >doing those studies reported feral ferrets? If the answer was yes, you >would have sited those examples along with the San Juan Island one. > >Besides, if a wild, native predator in the same family as ferrets (the >mustelid or weasel family) like the Black-footed Ferret can not survive >without human intervention, what makes you think that an animal who has >been domesticated for thousands of years and has lost many of the skills >any wild animal would need to survive can successfully live and thrive in a >wild setting? I am not saying that the rare ferret can not survive in the >wild. But it would be just that - the RARE ferret. > >Ferrets today in the US have even less of a chance of wild survival then >ferrets in years gone by because most ferrets are now breed for temperment >and appearance, not hunting skills. Ferrets are also regularly neutered >prior to sale to the public. Unneutered males are quite smelly and most >people do not want that smelly of an animal in their house. Unneutered >females who are not bred will die of anemia. These traits insure that most >all pet ferrets are sterilized. > >Until the Sierra Club changes its stance on AB 363 or similar legislation, I >will return all solicitations for donations that I get from the Sierra Club >back to the Sierra Club with a letter of why I am refusing to financially >support the Sierra Club and their projects. I will also encourage everyone >I know to also withhold financial support from the Sierra Club until their >stance on the legalization of ferrets in California changes. Please realize >that this is not idle talk. -kim -- Kimberly Burkard | _ Everything I needed to know in life, Eastman Kodak Company| _____C .._. I learned from my ferret: Rochester, New York | ____/ \___/ Frolic and dance for joy often, have [log in to unmask] |<____/\_---\_\ no fear or worries, and enjoy life. [Posted in FML issue 1951]