 Thank You! Ten Newest Members of the 3000 Club:614. Shasta's Mom, Rohnert Park CA
613. janicemansfield, San Rafael CA 612. gracie1rudolph2mitchey3ralf4, yonkers NY 611. Tattoome, Chula Vista CA 610. KT Mac, santa rosa CA 609. megan365, Williamsburg VA 608. Your Ferret Friends And Tina, Tampa FL 607. Joe Cimorelli, Sacramento CA 606. Alexis.C, Fresno CA 605. Sharon LLF Elliott, Riverside CA Join Now - Online membership form |
| Vol 3 • No 33, August 17th, 2008 |
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Member Photos and Letters
St Anthony - Patron Saint of Lost Ferrets  I was in the backyard, enjoying playing with my little guy. Slinky was running around the yard, which I thought was quite safe because he had a harness and collar with a little bell and I felt I could step on his leash if he ran too far from me. This had worked very well in the past and we both enjoyed the fun and exercise.
Unfortunately, due to my momentary distraction he actually disappeared. I called him to no avail and searched all over the yard, but nada. After running to my neighbor's house to see if he had burrowed under the fence and notifying all my neighbors on my whole cul de sac and the streets with houses that backed up to our street's backyards, I got busy making flyers and distributed them around the neighborhood--to the golf and country club behind us, churches and schools, parks and playgrounds, and telephone poles within a 10-block radius. Since Ferrets are illegal in California, I had to be careful and could only say "Lost Pet vicinity of _____________ and _________, weight 3 lbs. 8 ozs., grey and white." I provided our home number and stated that there would be a reward for his return. I received a couple of calls from pet lovers asking if it were a dog or cat. I felt helpless in not being able to say Ferret so people would know what to be on the alert for The Slink and had to wait until they called. One of my super neighbors borrowed a dog from her friend and accompanied me walking around the neighborhood, ringing bells and asking if the dog could sniff around for my boy. If no one answered the bell, she just opened the garden gate and we walked around the backyard with the dog. I would not have had the nerve to do this on my own and really appreciated her support. I was so desperate for news of Slinky that I even went to the humane society to ask if anyone had turned in a Ferret and was told that he had not been turned in and if he were to be turned in, they would have to confiscate him. I made them promise to call me if they heard because I felt that even if California's law made it mandatory for him to be sent out of state, at least I would know that he was alive and that someone would be looking after him and falling in love with him, because Ferrets have been domesticated for centuries and are not able to fend for themselves in the wild.
My story has a happy ending. After promising St. Anthony $100 for the safe return of my little love, The Slink walked up the driveway into the house, made a sharp right turn and then another right turn into his bedroom and stood up on his hind legs in front of his 4-story cage--all this by himself despite the fact that he had never been out the front door of our house. Our front door was open because we had workers installing new windows and they yelled out to us that our pet was home, and this was 8 days later. Slinky was clean as a whistle, despite the stormy, cold and wet weather that January week, and aside from being able to feel every rib on his little body, was none the worse for wear. I was delighted to write a check to the St. Anthony Foundation for the safe return of my wee one as I felt St. Anthony, as usual, did not fail me and came through with flying colors to answer my prayers.
Thank you for helping us educate the public on the plight of Ferret owners in California.
Barbara |
Its summertime and we're...
 in a holding pattern
We're kind of on hold until we decide what path to take regarding our Environmental Report. If you have been reading CLIFFNotes, you know that. But I get emails such as this one:
What Can I Do to Help Legalize Ferrets?
First of all, my condolences on losing Shasta. Most people reading this know how much it hurts to lose a ferret and how much Shasta meant to you. -Somehow we all feel pain when we hear of a ferret's passing.
Secondly, there are no petitions, letter writing campaigns, etc in the works to legalize ferrets at the moment. We've done all that - and they've all been ignored.
The one thing we haven't done - and its something that should have been done many years ago. What is it you ask? -To do the environmental studies requested by the California Fish and Game Commission and Governor Schwarzenegger himself before ferrets would or could be legalized in California.
Perhaps they required an official Environmental Impact Report (EIR) because they thought the price tag was beyond our reach. But removing a species from the prohibited species list using an EIR has never been done (We could be making history!) and a lot of the considerations (noise, traffic, culture) don't apply, making the price tag a whole lot more affordable apparently.
There is an initial, but non EIR study currently being worked on. The "working group" as they call themselves is not sharing any information, they are a secretive bunch. Their hope is Governor Schwarzenegger will be impressed with a non-official study.
They have until October 11th to give us a report and convince us not to do the official EIR.
At the Legalize Ferrets Revival (see link above) we will discuss what they have and consult with our consultant. It is my feeling that we will then file with the state of California to have an official Environmental Impact Report begun. It is a very complicated procedure (at least with my brain) so please come on down to San Diego and hear our consultant. I'd like to have his talk video taped and posted on our websites.
We did have a donation of $50,000 offered for this. That was in hopes of having a matching contribution of $25,000. The matching contribution didn't come through. We are not sure how our donor feels about the "working group's" efforts versus an official EIR. In other words - don't count on the $25k automatically. Thus be prepared for a massive fund raising effort if the need be. Personally, I don't think we are going anywhere without a full-blown EIR.
Letters to be out to Assembly and State Senate Candidates This Week
We will be sending out a form letter to all candidates for state assembly and state senate seeking a sponsor for a ferret legalization bill for 2009. The California Secretary of State's office has been completely unhelpful, not having returned any of the three calls I've placed to them in the past two weeks. But that won't stop me.
In addition, we invited all San Diego area candidates to the Legalize Ferrets Revival for a five to ten minute presentation and only one answered. It is very sad that people who want to represent us in Sacramento won't talk to us in San Diego.
We will put every response we get on the website - or mark "no response" as the election nears.
In Conclusion
I hope people won't get complacent as there is not our usual flurry of activity. September promises to have things pick up with the first ever Ferret Motorcycle Ride.
And then, I hope all heck breaks out as we start our Environmental Impact Report.
We are hoping for 75 to 100 people at the Legalize Ferrets Revival. This one will be a little different and a lot more meaningful than previous ferret meetings in California. I hope we will see the beginning of the end of our efforts to legalize ferrets in California.
Marshall Pet Products is donating the door prize.
Lance M.
Founder, OCFerrets / President, Ferrets Anonymous Website: http://www.ocferrets.org/ OCF Email: info@ocferrets.org (949) 303-8481  | ||||||||||
