We just have to share the good news! Gail Leskiw, our Public Relations Director, has achieved something that may mean more to AFS (Alberta Ferret Society) members and their ferrets over the years than anything else we may ever do: the Capital Health Authority's yesterday issued a press release stating that this district (Edmonton, Alberta Canada) will no longer euthanize any ferret that bites a human, but will instead quarantine for a period of 10 days provided there is proof of current rabies vaccination. Armed with a fistful of ferret info provided by other AFS members (collected from various Internet sites), Gail met with Capital Health Authorities recently to discuss the possibility of allowing ferrets to be brought in as visitors to Extended Care Facilities. At the same time the recommendations from the Compendium were also discussed. One point to note here is that back in November we had faxed the Compendium's recommendations to the Medical Officer of Health, yet never received a response. Gail on the other hand started at the other end of the totem pole and had much better success. Something to think about if any of you aren't getting anywhere in your attempts to get things changed. The only bad news is that our bid to allow ferrets into Extended Care facilities was shot down based solely on claims that ferrets will bite unprovoked and that some children have been seriously injured from ferrets bites. Does anyone have any statistics to counteract this evidence or to proof the value of allowing ferrets into these types of facilities? If you do we'd sure like to pass it on. Fuzzy hugs from Barb Gustafson (aka Boots) Alberta Ferret Society Vice-President [Posted in FML issue 2210]