Despite years of failure in their campaign, ferret lovers hope 2012 is the year that California legalizes their favorite animal.

A pro-ferret group is hunting for a legislative sponsor for its bill to overturn the state's ban on ferret ownership. California bans ferrets as a menace to agriculture, a position that ferret activists vigorously dispute.

A party at which volunteers will address information packets to state legislators is set for Thursday night at the La Mesa home of ferret activist Patrick Wright of www.LegalizeFerrets.org.

Wright is also recruiting ferret owners to testify on the matter at a Feb. 2 meeting of the state Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento.

"I don't want insults or sarcasm used. Just, 'Hey, I'm a Californian, and this issue is important to me,'" Wright suggested in the group's current newsletter.

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-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Photo: Ferrets. Credit: Associated Press