This is in response to the post about not bringing ferrets into California until they're legal, which I acknowledge as a valid and caring opinion but to which I wish to show some of another side. I saw my first ferret when I was 15 and working as a kennel attendant at a vet before and after school. I waited 7 years before I felt in a safe enough position to get my first ferret (safe for the ferret, that is), and in that time I signed petitions and posted flyers about legalization. A year later, after successfully integrating the first into our animal household and working through her biting issues, we got another. I made sure of a vet before getting either, and I don't take them anywhere questionable. I agree that no one should smuggle in a ferret at risk to the ferret (planes are questionable, I'd never do it). If someone hadn't broken the law, though, I would never have seen a ferret and never cared that they were illegal. With such opposition as the Sierra Club and the Audobon Society, I would have received only information on how vicious they are, and how detrimental to the environment, not how fun and sweet they can be. I have friends who want ferrets after seeing mine; most everyone who my ferrets have met wouldn't have cared about the law until they saw what a ferret was really like. Besides, though it's a generalization, I think that someone willing to drive 6 hours each way to get a pet has a better chance of being a good pet owner than someone who just sees one in a store and brings it home with no idea of what they're getting into. [LD] [Posted in FML issue 2123]