English 100

Professor Swanson

Position Paper

Date

You Can't Own a Ferret in California

        Why? You might ask.  Because the California Department of Fish & Game classified the domestic ferret as a wild animal more than 60 years ago. Despite grassroots efforts by many Californians and huge amounts of data that proves that the ferret is a domestic animal, the agency has refused to correct its mistake.  The California Department of Fish & Game is the only DFG that maintains the domestic ferret on the prohibited wildlife list.  Let's remember that the DFG is an agency whose reason for being is the control of wildlife not domesticated animals.  California is the only states in the United States that bans the domestic ferret as a companion animal. Compounding this problem and supporting the CDFG position are some very powerful organizations.  The Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society and the Los Angeles Zoo.  The Sierra & the Audubon Society have argued that lifting the ban on ferrets will allow for the creation of feral ferret colonies as a result of lost or abandoned pet ferrets. They further fear that these feral colonies will be harmful to California's fowl life.  The Los Angeles Zoo as well as the CDFG have put forth that ferrets are dangerous animals and quite capable of harming children.

        In June 1998 my girlfriend and I had the occasion to visit the Los Angeles Zoo. We decided to start our visit by attending one of the zoo's regularly scheduled children's animal shows.  To the delight of the children and quite a few of the adults, one of the animals they brought out was a small sable female (jill) ferret.  She was coiled in the hands of her handler like a slinky with large, blinking inquisitive eyes darting back and forth across the audience.  After showing her around up close to many of the children in the audience, the handler when into a half-hearted explanation that ferrets where not domestic animals, they are dangerous to people, if let loose in the wild they are a danger to birds and they are illegal in California.  This irked me, as her explanation seemed too similar to the CDFG's position to be a coincidence.  I waited until after the show and then I approached the animal handler.  I told her that I had owned ferrets in Texas for many years as pets and so had many of my friends and not one of us had ever thought of them as dangerous creatures or had even heard they were detrimental to the fowl life.  I further told her that I didn't feel that the zoo had been fair in its representation of the domestic ferret.  She stood there a few seconds, then almost as if to see if anybody might be within earshot she looked left and right and whispered "I know".   She went on to explain that she also didn't feel that ferrets were dangerous creatures and that she unfortunately had to say so because the official position of the zoo is such.  That intrigued me so I asked her if it had anything to do with the fact that they have to get permits from the CDFG for their animals; she said "could be" and told us she had to go and prepare for the next show. 

        These anti-ferret positions coupled with the sensationalist media that provides front page coverage every time there is a bite incident involving a ferret have presented a powerfully negative image of the ferret.

        What all of this means is that in the whole U.S. only Californians are being denied the right to choose the ferret as their companion animal due to a mistaken and overbearing state agency and the misguided and paranoid fears of a few powerful special interest organizations.

        The solution to this is to pass legislation lifting the ban on ferrets so that Californians can have the same access as the rest of the country to America's third favorite pet after dogs & cats: the pet ferret.  We could craft legislation that would allay some of the stated fears of those against the legalization of ferrets, while at the same time good for the ferret.  A mandatory spays & neuter attachment to the bill would answer the very unlikely occurrence of a feral colony as the result of a lost pet ferret.  Another attachment to the bill might be a minimum age requirement for owning a ferret. This would help to decrease the possibility of biting incidents due to the mishandling of ferrets by younger owners and put the ferret into more responsible hands.  Workshops presented to potential pet owners by pet shops and "ferret people" organizations which would include promotional literature and information would help to educate the public about the ferret and help counteract the negative image that the public has been exposed to by the sensationalist media.  The veterinary community also must be made aware that there are specific rabies vaccines for the ferret that have been in use in Europe and many other states which could be used in California as well.

         The first step in proposing a bill to legalize ferrets in California is to recognize them as a domesticated animal.

        In Webster's New World College Dictionary, Third edition, the ferret is described as "a small, domesticated European polecat with pink eyes and yellowish fur, easily tamed for hunting rabbits, rats, etc" (emphasis added)(499).  Ferrets now come in a variety of colors and are even more removed from their polecat origin, but this reference still serves to indicate that the ferret is a domesticated animal and not wildlife.

        Deborah Jeans in her book "A Practical Guide to Ferret Care" points out that U.S. Customs records exists of ferret imports from Spain by American furriers as early as 1875.  She also indicates that by the turn of the century there were several breeders in the U.S.  In some cities this was one of the main industries such as in London, Ohio which was referred to as "Ferretville" in the early 1900s (Jeans 7-8).

        Jeans notes that the ferret was the "pet of choice" for Queen Victoria of Britain who gave them away as gifts to visiting heads of state and dignitaries. Because the ferret was extremely successful at hunting rabbits (ferreting) the Roman Army spread this hunting technique throughout Europe as a way to keeps it's soldiers well fed.  Ferreting involved muzzling the ferret and sending it
into a rabbit burrows where they would chase out the rabbits into waiting nets. During the Renaissance in Europe, poor families used ferrets to catch small animals such as rabbits and rats to supplement their diet. With the invention of the telephone and the need for underground telephone wiring, the ferret came into play again.  American companies used ferrets to pull wires through pipes and other tight areas otherwise unreachable to humans (Jeans 8).  Jeans inclusion of these simple facts in her book illustrates that the ferret has been adapted to fill human needs throughout the ages and that the existence of ferrets in the U.S. has been the result of the importation and consequent breeding by ferret breeders.

        Harry V. Thompson and Carolyn M. King in their book "The European Rabbit: The History & Biology of A Successful Colonizer" had an interesting observation on the issue of feral ferret colonies.  In writing about the introduction of ferrets to Australia, they mention that ferrets had been used quite successfully to catch rabbits, but that although there were thousands of accidental releases, the ferrets could not establish colonies.  This was true even when accidentally released into areas where rabbits were abundant.  They hypothesize that this occurred because these ferrets had been trained to hunt rabbits and that a lack of an alternative prey when the rabbits stopped breeding caused them to die out (Thompson & King 131).

        Ferrets pose less danger to people than dogs.  According to a L.I.F.E. fact sheet, which quoted a 1988 JAVMA report, it estimated that within the decade of 1978-1988 there from 1,000,00 to 3,000,000 reported bite incidents involving dogs.  The same fact sheet presented to The Humane Society of the United States reported an average of roughly 65 bites annually involving ferrets that same decade.  Its also interesting to note that in a May 30, 1997 report by the Center for Disease Control compiled with information from the NEXIS database of the Humane Society of United States, California was the leading state for dog-bite-related fatalities in the U.S. from 1979-1996.  During that same time there were no reported cases of a fatality resulting from ferret attack.

        In 1997 The National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians' Rabies Compendium Committee met in New York in order to develop the 1998 Rabies Compendium.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought the results of their current studies on rabies in ferrets that indicated that ferrets shed the virus within a few days of their manifesting rabies symptoms.  As a result of these studies the Committee concluded that a 10-day confinement period after a bite by a healthy ferret would be enough to determine rabies status.  This is the same policy that currently exists with dogs & cats proving that ferrets are certainly no more capable of rabies transmission than dogs or cats.  Currently there is one USDA licensed vaccines for use with Imrab-3, which has been shown to be very effective in preventing rabies in ferrets.

        The sheer numbers of ferret clubs in the United States clearly show the increase in popularity of the ferret as a pet. Ferrets have even been featured in such films as "The Beast Master" and most recently in "Lost in Space".  According to Mary Van Dahm's article "The Ferret Phenomenon" there are close to 500 ferret clubs and organizations in this country alone.  The interest in ferrets is not limited to the U.S. Van Dahm adds that ferret clubs exist other countries such as "Japan, Canada, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, New Zealand, Sweden and Switzerland."    The article states that there is even a World Ferret Union. The WFU is a group of veterinarians and ferret owners who share information about ferrets all around the world through use of a newsletter (Dahm 6). 

        This interest is solidly founded on the fact that ferrets make great pets. Ferrets are intelligent, affectionate, curious and playful.  As a matter of fact, one of the great characteristics of ferrets is that they never seem to lose their playfulness even in old age.  They love to chase and be chased by their owners.  They are intelligent enough to be litter trained.  They have the ability to show affection by licking and jumping on you like a dog and yet they are also small enough to hold in your lap and pet like a cat.  One particularly endearing habit is the  "weasel wardance".  When a ferret is particularly happy and playful they rear up on their little hind legs and jump up and down while twisting about.  If you are familiar with the "Peanuts" comic strip then just picture Snoopy when he gets "happy feet" and dances in place, that's the "weasel wardance".

        Another great thing about ferrets is that they don't require a lot of space. While some ferret owners love to let their fuzzy pets run around the house, a single cage 30" x 16" x 18" will do just fine. This is great for people who have small living spaces.  Ferrets are also relatively light on the wallet when it comes to food.  Although there are few companies that make ferret food, many ferrets can do well on regular dry cat food.  A single ferret will consume about half a cup of cat food a day.

        It is estimated by the Pet Industry Joint Action Council (PIJAC) that there are over 5 million ferrets in the U.S. alone (L.I.F.E Fact Sheet).  Clearly the ferret is here to stay. It is time that California joins the rest of the country in accepting the ferret as the great animal companion it is.  Legalize the ferret now!

Works Cited

Jeans, Deborah. A Practical Guide to Ferret Care. Florida: Ferret, Inc. 1994.

League of Independent Ferret Enthusiasts (L.I.F.E.).  "Ferret Vs. Dog Bites." Ferret Bite Fact Sheet. http://www.acmeferret.com/infobank/biteinfo.htm (03 November 1998).

MMWR Weekly. "Dog-Bite-Related Fatalities-United States, 1995-1996" 46(21):463-466.  May 30, 1997. http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00047723.htm (12 November 1998).

Thompson V., Harry and King M., Carolyn.  The European Rabbit: The History and Biology of a Successful Colonizer,  New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Van Dahm, Mary.  "The Ferret Phenomenon."  Ferrets U.S.A.   January 1998.

Webster's New World college dictionary / Victoria Neufeldt, editor in chief, David B. Guralink, editor in chief emeritus. - 3rd ed. Simon & Schuster, 1997.