The Massachusetts Ferret Friends sent this press release out over the wires and faxed to the Michigan newspapers: Massachusetts Ferret Friends, Inc. Sharon Burbine, President: (617) 224-1098 Lee McKee, Clerk: (617) 782-4712 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6 June 1997 KODO RULING THREATENS ALL PETS: Michigan Appeals Court to Consider Whether To Subject All Household Pets to Euthanasia for Rabies Testing; Misuse of Public Health Protection Funds Charged BOSTON, Mass. -- The Massachusetts Ferret Friends today blasted Michigan prosecutors and a judge for their attempts to kill Kodo, a pet ferret. "There's no rational or scientific basis for such a penalty," said Sharon Burbine, the head of the ferret owner's group. "This is a blatant example of government gone wrong." Kodo, the Saginaw, Mich., ferret still on Death Row after 37 days has pet owners in other states worried -- worried not only about the fate of that particular ferret and its heartbroken family, but about the fate of their own pets if a judge's ruling is allowed to stand. "Following the ruling to its logical conclusion," Burbine said, "any pet in Michigan -- dog, cat or ferret -- would be subject to seizure to be killed and tested for rabies, on any pretext." The case, now before an appeals court, is whether to euthanize and test for rabies a ferret (Kodo) that had been on display at a Pet Education Day in Saginaw. An elderly gentleman petted Kodo and accidentally scraped his finger on the ferret's tooth -- the ferret did not bite the man. Kodo, a children's pet, has been confined at a pound for over a month, while its case was presented before Judge Caprathe in Saginaw. Judge Caprathe ruled that the ferret should be killed and tested for rabies because of the slim possibility that it might have been infected with rabies by an unobserved bat, even though the ferret might not have exposed anyone to rabies, and even though the ferret had been vaccinated against rabies. This ruling came in spite of testimony and evidence from government studies that ferrets are a low risk for contracting rabies and that if infected, they die of the disease shortly after showing signs of the disease and shedding the virus in their saliva. Further, no bat had been found in the ferret's household, and the ferret never showed signs of bites, wounds, or rabies infection. "I can't think of a public health agency in any other state has endorsed killing an animal for rabies testing without evidence of rabies exposure, just to see whether it is infected, " continued Burbine, who is a former animal control officer. "Such a test would be inconclusive, and a wasted expense. Until this ruling, the issue has always been whether a person was exposed to rabies." "If I were a pet owner in Michigan, I would be very worried," Burbine said. "The judge has given the green light for killing and testing any animal for rabies because of the chance that a bat could have bitten it without the owner's knowledge. That could be any animal -- dog, cat, or ferret -- whether or not it had been vaccinated against rabies, and whether or not it had been involved in a bite incident." Some observers in Michigan have questioned whether taxpayer dollars should continue to be spent on the case of one ferret. Burbine pointed out that the rabies tests are very expensive to conduct, "to say nothing of the human costs inflicted on the owners of these animals. This is an important test case, made more urgent by the wording of the judge's ruling." Over 400 ferrets have been killed and tested for rabies in Michigan in the last past 18 months, and none have been found to be rabid. Burbine pointed to her own state's policy on bite incidents. "Massachusetts and other states have found a less expensive and more effective way of guarding the public health than the indiscriminate killing-and-testing of pets." In Massachusetts, dogs, cats, and ferrets involved in biting incidents are quarantined at the owner's expense, and in the owner's home, for 10 days. "The rabies situation in Massachusetts is no less serious than in Michigan," Burbine pointed out. "We've got it in our own bat and raccoon populations here. However, our public health officials looked at the scientific evidence and concluded that the public is better served by observing a live animal than by killing it, and by putting the money saved [from rabies testing] into education and prevention." = [] = END RELEASE [Posted in FML issue 1959]