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Growth Chart
click to enlarge
I have attached a chart of growth stages of a ferret. It is important for consumers to know how quickly ferrets grow, change, and develop. I thought you may want to add this on your cliff notes next week.
What do you think?
Denice Fischette
Marshall Pet Products
thank you, Denice!
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Michelle Bowers Story Reappearing
Michelle is news worthy because celebrity plastic surgeon "Dr 92010" is treating her as part of his television show. I'm sure everyone reading this wishes Michelle the best possible outcome with her surgery.
While not on a crusade against ferrets, and actually from the article quite charitable towards our pets, her story continues to hurt our cause of ferret legalization.
The article above makes it seems the ferret was a long standing family pet and Michelle had proper family supervision. After reading the article, this is what Jeanne Carley had to say (edited down for brevity):
I was very involved with Ferret Legalization at the time that Michelle's grandmother came and testified about the ferret incident in Carson City that left Michelle disfigured. As part of our attempt to set the record straight, Bill Phillips (founder of the California Domestic Ferret Assoc) contacted Lee Wittek who was an Animal Control Office in Carson City at the time of the 1985 incident and Lee's formal declaration was presented to the California State Senate as part of our Senate Bill 55, authored by Senator Quentin Kopp.
His declaration clearly states that "the reason it took so long to respond to her (Michelle's) cries of agony is that apparently neither of her parents were consciously present in the home at the time their child was injured." He goes on to say that "the rumor in the community
was that her mother was down at the local bar with her girlfriends (it was also rumored they were having some trouble at home), and the father was either not present or was asleep or unconscious. Although the father denied it when questioned, there were indications that the father was drinking and had fallen asleep or passed out." Mr. Wittek goes on to say that "There is also the serious question of just how the ferret gained access to the baby up in her crib. My experience with ferrets is that they are not particularly good climbers and jumpers and absent some outside help would not have been able to gain access to the baby in the crib unless provided with a ladder of some form, such as a lattice work of wire or cloth they could climb up, or were placed in the crib by someone."
Sadly Michell Bowers was the victim of a ferret attack-- but she was first the victim of her own parents' negligence, parents who were not charged with negligence in 1985 but who might very well be charged in today's less forgiving climate. The reason we kept running into Christine Ostrom, Michelle's grandmother, at Fish and Game and Capitol hearings was because Michelle was raised by her grandmother, not by her parents.
As an example of how this is hurting us - this Craigslist posting was forwarded to us:
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Ferrets and little children are dangerous
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Date: 2010-03-04, 10:31AM PST
Reply to: see below
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If you are considering buying or adopting a ferret be very careful, other than it's illegal (in California since this is a Los Angeles site), it's dangerous. I saw a documentary about this teenage girl who nose and lips were missing from their family ferret because their breath smells like milk. It's not worth having any dangerous animal even though they seem harmless around infants unattended. Even at night while you're sleeping, protect your family.
I am not ignorant but stating the facts. Dr. 90210 featured this one girl. Look online you'll see stories. People who believe ferrets don't do that are like people whos dog attached someone or another pet unexpectedly.
There have been some highly publicized incidents where a young infant left alone with a young ferret has been seriously injured or killed, and because of this, extremists have claimed that ferrets are not suitable pets for anyone, with or without children. Some of the 'ferrets' in these incidents have actually been ferret-polecat crosses. Wild polecats and hunting ferrets eat baby rabbits, groundhogs, rats, and mice that they find in burrows: it is natural for them to attack milky-smelling creatures. In the few cases where human infants have been attacked by ferrets, both the ferrets and the babies appear to have been neglected by the adults who should have been responsible for them.
An infant should never be left alone with a ferret or with any other animal. Many mature ferrets are entirely trustworthy with the young members of the household, sharing nap time and never taking the slightest nibble at clutching baby hands. You must take responsibility for supervising both the baby and the animal, making sure that neither one hurts the other in their early encounters.
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Bet you didn't know little children were dangerous!
One serious problem we have is a lack of facts. Presenting rumors as fact, which I stupidly did with the reporter who wrote the story really undermind our efforts. I am trying to get the facts of this case documented and will keep everyone informed. I feel strongly that we have to be proactive in this case, that we are going to hear a lot more about this, and the facts will help us.
Seeking Clarification With the California Fish and Game Commission
Just who, exactly, has the right to delist ferrets from the prohibited species list?
Based on information received from a legislative aid stating that only thorugh a bill through the state legislature with the Governor's signature could legalize ferrets in California - a registered letter was sent to John Carlson, Jr, Exec Director of the California Fish and Game Commission.
We simply asked if they had the authority to legalize ferrets. I bet they did a big sigh when getting another letter from me - but I hope they can give a simple answer. We will of course publish the response in CLIFFNotes.
2010 Ferrets Anonymous Round Up Info:
When: Saturday, March 20, 2010
Where: Brea, CA
Location: Brea Veterans Club
Address: 735 South Brea Blvd., Brea, CA 92821-5310
Veterans' Club Tel: (714) 529-4874
Time: 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
All Ferrets Anonymous members are invited to attend Round Up. If you have an interest in joining Ferrets Anonymous, you are also welcome to attend.
The Annual meeting of FA includes:
2010 FA Officer Elections
Sales tables - offering wonderful products for sale
Raffles - benefiting FA
Guest Speakers - to further educate our members
Potluck Luncheon
& More!
Entry Fee: $10/person
Table Hosting Fee: $25/table
We're looking for interesting speakers for the event. Would you like to donate your time to educate the attendees of this year's Round Up? Please contact Lance M. at (949) 303-8481 for more information.
If you'd like to host a sales table at Round Up, we'll need to know so we can reserve your space ASAP. |
Still Looking for a Place in Northern California For a Ferret Meeting
The community centers in the Walnut Creek area charge $1500 for meeting space on Saturdays. The Embassy Suites in Walnut Creek wants $50 per person for dinner. Other hotels in the area haven't even returned calls.
I'll be back on the phone this week looking for a meeting location for Saturday, September 23rd. I'm willing to consider Sacramento area locations as well. But if you know of a place, please let me know.
Update on My Crew
They say ferret owners are worse than grandparents when it comes to talking about their ferrets. Since I write CLIFFNotes you have to suffer through mine.
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| My puppy Luna and Fausto |
Fat Fausto and skinny Quito |
Tiger, love the white paws. Bailey wouldn't wake up from her nap to do photos. |
My oldest ferret Quito has stopped eating - almost. I have relied on Marshall's Duck Soup to make up the deficiencies but he won't eat that any more. Now it gets syringed down his throat. He is still the first one out of the cage though. Yesterday I forgot to feed the dogs and I let the ferrets out. So I dished up the "Taste of the Wild" dog food and found Quito chowing down on it. Don't feed your ferret dog food, but when you need calories - I figured "go for it."
Fausto has become Fat Fausto. His eating switch goes on and off - but its stuck in over drive. Does Jenny Craig take ferrets? He eats everything.
Tiger and Bailey, the two girls I got in Vegas over Christmas are doing well, though I call Bailey "Plumpalina" because she's not too far behind Fausto. Tiger has calmed down a bit, and only torments the puppy half as much.
I think they all have ear mites again, which is really infuriating since I spent $400 last month on ear mite treatment. We are off to the vet tomorrow for shots and get Quito checked out. We'll see, but they're all so sweet.
In Conclusion
The news that the governor nor the Fish and Game Commission alone can't legalize ferrets, plus Michelle Bower's story getting renewed attention because of her appearance on Dr 90210 shows what an uphill struggle we have - to do that is all common sense. Ferrets are legal in 48 states an no environmental impacts and one child injury in thirty years. 7 Children die a year because of pool drains. There is no way to make the world 100% safe and if we try to do so - we'll lose so much else.
But in the thirty years since Michelle's injuries the ferret community has achieved much, thanks to the Internet, emailing, Facebook, etc. Our weak response to the Michelle Bowers incident shows us that we are not as organized as we ought to be, but hopefully that will change. I hope and believe we are becoming more sophisticated.
Pat Wright
(619) 303-0645
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