Tonight Fannie and Farrah, the ferrets, and I were warmly welcomed to our local Audobon Society meeting for a brief presentation to help California ferret owners by sharing a few important facts about ferrets and communicating love for ferrets. As we greeted people at the door, we provided a homemade flyer, gratefully accepted compliments about how cute ferrets are, and responded to other comments. They displayed some positive familiarity with ferrets a genuine love for all animals. I stressed the unlikelihood of ferrets becoming feral and thought I detected understanding and acceptance in facial expressions as I talked. One of the group's questions was: Are ferrets weasels? and the other question was: Are there wild ferrets? Fortunately, I knew the answers thanks to information from FML members. Of course, I never would have been there in the first place, with pains in my stomach, if it were not for the FML! My husband, Ron, carried the travel cage for me and Farrah and Fannie moved around from hammock to towel just as cutely as possible to help with the whole thing. On the way home Ron and I wondered how much politics plays in California's situation because it doesn't seem like any great revelation that ferrets are very unlikely to become feral and kill off birds. Is the Audobon Society looking for wildlife habitat land in California in exchange for a negative position on ferrets? Who would know, we wondered. Wise old Ron had an idea and I might pursue it but for now I'm glad my "speaking engagement" was successful and I hope it did some good for ferret owners in California. Alice [Posted in FML issue 2188]