Hi all! Just an update on the post I made about the Public Health Veterinarian Coalation Committee's Year 2000 plans for the ferret. Thanks you to all that have taken a concern over this! This includes Sukie Crandall, Alicia Drakiotes, Dr. Deborah W. Kemmerer, Mike Dutton (who has offered to write new material for the web site), and many others! Thank you Sukie (and anyone else that did) for sending a copy of my post to the AFA - I cc'ed them as well. =) Here is the response from them. "Dear Friends and Colleagues: Thank you for bringing this topic to the American Ferret Association's attention. The item below is an Objective from a federal/state/private sector program called "Healthy People 2000" which sets decade-long public health goals for the nation. It is an effort that is initiated by the federal government (probably in the case of the Objective below, the CDC.) The Objective is old (from 1990) and is in the process of being either deleted or revised for HP 2010, which the federal agencies are currently working on. The AFA has directly addressed the subparts of this old Objective over the past 5 - 8 years, and successfully modified its implementation. Thus, the issues raised have either been completed or are no longer valid. It will, however, be important to monitor the new HP 2010 Objectives (I am working on a chapter for this document as we speak) to ensure that ferrets are addressed more moderately in the next Draft document. The AFA should convene a working group to do this. I would invite interested parties to contact me or Pat Stauffer. Freddie Ann Hoffman, MD Vice President" Amy Flemming [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] Flemming Farms - Michigan, USA Breeding for Quality Ferrets American, Australian, German, and New Zealand bloodlines Come see us at http://www.geocities.com/heartland/ranch/9521 Weasel Watchers Ferret Rescue - Michigan, USA Helping Needy Weasels Come see us at http://www.geocities.com/petsburgh/zoo/2690 "For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism" [Posted in FML issue 2641]