Why the wild hair for keeping ferrets illegal?
By Gina Spadafori
February 24, 2008
Until I moved to Florida for a few months in 2000-1, I never saw a legal pet ferret. I met some wonderful pets who’d been confiscated and turned over to a small city zoo, and I met some “underground ferrets” in the homes of people who very carefully checked out my references before admitting they had these pets or letting me see them.
Why? Because I live in California, where these animals are illegal, and the annual fight to change this status pits ferret-lovers against the state Fish and Game department, which argues a lot of nonsense but still manages to keep the pets illegal, year after year. (Honestly, I think the folks at F&G would love to ban cats, too, but of course they can’t. So they take it all out on ferrets. Isn’t redirected aggression wonderful?)
The folks in the California Assembly, Senate and Governor’s office hate this yearly effort to get the elected reps to override the bureaucrats because it makes the elected folks in Sacramento look silly. The media love it for the same reason. Everyone who doesn’t have a dog in the fight has a good laugh about it, and the curmudgeonly clear their throats and pontificate about the state having bigger issues (yeah, duh, but that never stops a legislator from doing something stupid, does it?).
Meanwhile, a couple hundred thousand (that’s an estimate; no one really knows) “underground ferrets” continue to live in California. Their owners trade the names of veterinarians sympathetic enough to their cause to treat the pets and not turn the owners in, and ferret supplies are sold openly at pet retailers.
Of course, the whole thing’s utterly moronic.
Legalize these domesticated pets, ferpete’ssake, and let’s move on.
My only problem with ferrets (and it’s not a reason to keep from legalizing them everywhere as pets): A large number of them come from the commercial breeder Marshall. I’m sure their ferret mills are USDA-compliant (so are a lot of puppy mills). But I don’t like the mass-production of companion animals as if they were widgets. (Here’s one ferret fan’s take on it, and here’s Marshall’s own site.) My thoughts on this would be the same as with other pets: Find a ferret from a rescue, shelter or reputable breeder.
Anyway … before I buckle down to a day’s worth of writing, check out this piece from Chicago Tribune. Reporter
“It’s because they believe they’re wild animals and they believe they’ll decimate the wildlife. These are neutered and spayed animals,” said an exasperated Norine Barnes, president of the Greater
Chicago Ferret Association, which has about 275 members and runs a shelter for ferrets, which are legal in Illinois.The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals agrees. It opposed the 1999 ban on ferrets in New York.
[...]
“I don’t know what the genesis of all this was, but it seems there was some confusion between wild ferrets and the European stoat, which people keep as pets,” said Lisa Weisberg, senior vice president for government affairs and public policy at the ASPCA. “The European stoat was domesticated a thousand years ago.”
Would I adopt a ferret? Maybe, but not illegally. If they were legal here, I’d have to wait until I had more time, room and energy. The current critter family is enough, with at least one dog, cat, parrot and rabbit, and pet chickens to come.
They are sure cute, though, and if a ferret is the right pet for you (and you for them), they’re wonderful. And they should be legal.
When I lived in MA, ferrets were still illegal there. This created a real problem because there was no way for shelters to take them. College kids tended to abandon them. And most went unvaccinated, providing a disease reservoir for canine distemper and (theoretically) rabies.
I’m told that the ban in MA was derived from nativist discrimination against the Portugese immigrants, who used ferrets for hunting. Proper New Englanders hunt with well-bred setters and a fine over/under.
They make nifty pets. It boggles the mind that a state can have legal mink farms, ranchers keeping emus and exotic deer, etc., but these little domestic beasties are banned.
I like to think that Rudy “Obsessed by a Weasel” Guliani got knocked out of the GOP race by the pro-ferret faction. (Though I somehow suspect that more ferret owners are Dems …)
The Marshall ferret mill is a factory, plain and simple. If it’s the wrong way to raise puppies, how can it be the right way to raise pet ferrets? Ferret milling is the main reason that the lifespan of domestic ferrets in this country is so bloody short; the European animals live nearly twice as long.
There are at least two highly reputable ferretries near me. They use imported breeding stock to maintain a wide gene pool, for health and longevity. When the time comes, I’ll put myself on the waiting list for a little jill kit, and spay her at a proper age, not as a tiny infant.
Comment by H. Houlahan — February 24, 2008 @ 7:33 pm
I can’t speak for the US but in New Zealand ferrets are now illegal and long may it stay that way. I supported bringing in the ban due to vulnerability of the native (often flightless and/or endangered) bird life to ferrets and their propensity to escape. And yes, pet lover that I am, I would support an outdoor cat exclusion zone around national parks too. I don’t think owning pets is a laissez faire matter and environmental issues do come into play.
Comment by emily — February 25, 2008 @ 8:04 am
Emily, we’re talking about spayed/neutered indoor pet who’ve never done anymore hunting than some light indoor rodent control. And usually not that.
Comment by Lis — February 25, 2008 @ 10:10 am
I understand that. But when I was in the UK I rescued a number of escaped pet ferrets. They tend to get out and they don’t seem to need to learn how to hunt. I will admit to not having a lot of hard data but it is my firm impression as a person who has kept ferrest that they represent a particular danger to wildlife—especially flightless birds. Just my impression, of course.
Comment by emily — February 25, 2008 @ 10:33 am
The ferrets in New Zealand were deliberately introduced into the wild as a possible means of population control for rabbits. The data used to ban pet ferrets in the country were terrible — completely biased, scientifically unsound.
There may have also been some escapees from breeding farms who augmented the wild population, but that’s not even known for sure, and since they were breeding animals, obviously, they were intact.
Comparing a deliberately introduced population of animals (decades ago, by the way) and some intact animals from breeding operations who MAY have added to their numbers to some huge potential plague of escaped pets is comparing oranges to pizza.
In addition to New Zealand having unique wildlife and conservation issues that are not shared by California, the banning of pet ferrets is one of those symbolic acts that makes some people feel like they’re doing something to help the wildlife that’s being destroyed by habitat destruction caused by humans and our greed, not by a few escaped pets.
Comment by Christie Keith — February 25, 2008 @ 11:27 am
Pets would be a source for repopulation of feral ferrets, that is the reason for the ban. I can only specualte but I should think there are some parts of California in similar need of protection.
I understand people differ on this but the fact is pet ferrets are not 100% neutered and they do escape—in fact they are better at escaping than most other pet species which is why I quite undeliberately ended up with several that I found will tramping. So it comes down to weighing the value of people having ferrets as a legal pet option against the potential for environmental damage.
I don’t see that it so crucial to have ferrets in California. That’s just my take on it. Other people no doubt think having a ferret is more important but it must, logically, be at some risk to wildlife even if it is only a small one.
Comment by emily — February 25, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
Domesticated ferrets cannot survive in the wild and if they did they would become prey. In New Zealand, ferrets mated with polecats, enabling them to exist in the wild.
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret
Where ferrets coexist with polecats, hybridization is common. It has been claimed that New Zealand has the world’s largest feral population of ferret-polecat hybrids. In 1877, farmers in New Zealand demanded that ferrets be introduced into the country to control the rabbit population, which was also introduced by humans. Five ferrets were imported in 1879, and in 1882-1883, 32 shipments of ferrets were made from London, totaling 1,217 animals. Only 678 landed, and 198 were sent from Melbourne, Australia. On the voyage, the ferrets were mated with the European polecat, creating a number of hybrids that were capable of surviving in the wild. In 1884 and 1886, close to 4,000 ferrets and ferret hybrids, 3,099 weasels and 137 stoats were turned loose.[10] Concern was raised that these animals would eventually prey on indigenous wildlife once rabbit populations dropped, and this is exactly what happened to New Zealand bird species which previously had no mammalian predators.
And as for Marshall Farms, I don’t Like them.
Owner of 2 fun loving ferrets - Abby and Little Boy
Comment by Susie — February 25, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
I don’t see that it so crucial to have ferrets in California. That’s just my take on it. Other people no doubt think having a ferret is more important but it must, logically, be at some risk to wildlife even if it is only a small one.
And this is, in addition to the real differences in the ecological circumstances, is a major point of disagreement. You think that people should have to make the case that owning pet ferrets is “crucial.” Most Americans think that, if you want to ban something, you should have to make the case for banning it. And make it with facts, not assumptions and must-bes and the belief that everyplace is essentially the same.
I live in a densely populated city in Massachusetts. Despite the dense human population, we have coyotes, redtail hawks, and oppossums in the immediate area of my house. What’s the bigger threat to smaller mammals and birds in this area, do you think—the coyotes, hawks, and oppossums that are out there hunting every day, or the possibility that someone’s pet ferret or pet cat might escape? In New Zealand, the impact of cats and ferrets on the native wildlife was due, in large part, to the fact that they were a whole new cateogory of predator that the native fauna had never evolved to cope with. In North America, mammalian predators in that size class, and larger and smaller, are all over the place. Cats and ferrets, when they do escape, are prey as well as predators.
This is a very different situation.
Comment by Lis — February 25, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Not to mention, we already HAVE ferrets in California… 25 percent of all money spent on ferret supplies comes from this state. This is about bringing them out from underground, not about “introducing” them.
Comment by Christie Keith — February 25, 2008 @ 7:26 pm
There are sooo many things we don’t really need in California that I’d have to say ferrets wouldn’t even make my list of the top 1000.
:)
Legalize ‘em.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — February 25, 2008 @ 8:15 pm
Legalize them and license them. Ten bucks maybe? The underground ferret owners I know would love to be able to go public and in conversation, not one has ever objected to paying a reasonable fee to do so.
multiply 10-15 dollars times 10 to 15% the number of ferrets ALREADY HERE (compliance is not likely to be better than it for dogs) and you could still bring in a chunk of change for municipalities or F&G if they still want to maintain “control”
sorry I had to laugh at my last line there. A quarter of a million or more ferrets already in California, yep, the ban sure is working….
Comment by JenniferJ — February 25, 2008 @ 8:39 pm
And how many of those nonexistent banned weasels are properly vaccinated?
The way to make an innocuous person or thing into a dangerous one is by driving it underground.
Comment by H. Houlahan — February 25, 2008 @ 9:11 pm
I found it most interesting to read the comments, especially those of Emily whom I assume is a kiwi.
In Australia, ferrets are banned in Queensland and the Northern Territory — both these states have cane toads jumping around, poisoning native fauna, as well as crocodiles munching on native fauna but for some bizarre reason they seem to think that a pet ferret, which escaped from a house, would somehow be a threat to native fauna.
Granted it’s fairly cool in SE Qld but everywhere else is hot and humid and an escaped ferret would surely die if it got out in that climate. That is, if it wasn’t killed by a king brown (one of Australia’s largest poisonous snakes) first!
Comment by Nona — February 27, 2008 @ 10:36 pm
I grew up in Michigan with ferrets shortly after they were legalized. The excuse that ferrets will escape and multiply is pure hogwash. NO ONE buys unaltered ferrets unless they are a knowledgeable fancier who knows where to find a private breeder who will sell them one. These people know enough to keep their ferrets from escaping.
I have my doubts as to whether any pet store ferret could survive in the wild long enough to start killing birds anyway.
Honestly if the remote possibility that a ferret might be capable of killing native wildlife is enough of a threat to ban them, pet cats should have been banned long ago. We KNOW cats kill birds and small wild animals. We KNOW that unneutered cats easily breed in the wild, producing feral colonies. The cat is a bigger threat, but the ferret takes all the blame. But this is kind of how it works with banning domestic animals in general—it’s always stupid and full of double standards.
Comment by Kris — August 6, 2008 @ 11:09 am
I would have to say that the vast majority of pet ferrets are altered. If you consider that a female ferret that is not mated will go into an extended heat leading to aplastic anemia and die. An unaltered male will spray in your house just like an unaltered Tom cat plus the musk is overwhelming. I just can’t imagine anyone keeping unaltered ferrets as pets. Also ferrets can’t survive in extended temperatures above 85F. Having no sweat glands makes regulating their already high body temperature impossible. To think ferrets should be “controlled” is ignorant and quite ridiculous. I’m sure that the same people that are fighting to uphold the ban on ferrets are also sulking nightly about the decriminalization of marijuana.
Comment by Robert — October 2, 2008 @ 11:54 am