>Date: Sun, 27 Jul 1997 19:19:46 -0400 >From: Amy Nahirny <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Jack Hanna Regarding Jack Hanna's comments about ferrets being wild animals who make bad pets -- it has been a longstanding belief in our household that JACK HANNA IS AN IDIOT. This man is, IMHO, a very poor excuse for a zookeeper and so-called "animal expert." I have for years watched him take animals on various talk shows and bumble around not knowing how to handle them. He often brings them out one at a time until he's got a potentially dangerous situation brewing with five or six animals of different species on the same stage at the same time (even predator/prey!!), birds flying free in the studio, etc. This little incident regarding ferrets just cements this image of him in my mind. There is *NO* excuse for a zookeeper, *any* zookeeper, not knowing the difference between a domestic ferret, a black-footed ferret, and a polecat (which is what I assume he was referring to -- or am I still being too charitable in assuming he'd know a polecat if he saw one?). (My SO is a zookeeper, BTW.) This is appalling. Hanna is about the most popularly well-recognized "animal expert" out there in popular media. Consequently, he is capable of doing a lot of damage with his ignorance and stupidity. My advice would be -- don't bother writing Hanna. He's been a fool for longer than I've been alive. Write Larry King and/or CNN instead -- request that King do a show on the legalization issue! -Tasha "It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this." -- Bertrand Russell [Posted in FML issue 2017]