The latest from LegalizeFerrets.org View this email in your browser Vol 12 No 22 - May 29th, 2016

<<First Name>> <<Last Name>> <<Custom1>> <<Custom2>> Plan D Kind of Got Buried, But It's Back! What is Plan D? We've been through Plan A (Ballot Initiative) Plan B (Try to get a Hearing Anyway) Plan C (Try to find a Legislative Sponsor) But Plan D took a back seat.



Plan D is to go through the Fish and Wildlife procedure and ask that the ferret ban be removed.



Corey N started the process but got diverted. So in my spare time :-) I am starting it over again. You can click on the image to open it in Word. It wasn't too bad to fill out except 2 questions. I got a super friendly and super helpful person at the Department of Fish and Wildlife to help me. But if you saw how well I filled out Form 410 for our Political Action Committee - expect it to come back with errors. But I'll get it done right and they won't be able to ignore us.



Here is the link. My email to the Department of Fish and Wildlife:



Attached please find a petition for regulation change and supporting documentation; our preliminary EIR and CEQA checklist.



Since we all agree domestic ferrets have not caused any harm or damage – except perhaps in island ecosystems a lot of the concerns Fish and Game has expressed over the years are not the concerns we have. Ferret lovers are concerned about abandoned pet ferrets; that people will buy them on impulse and then finding out the amount of work and expense required will abandon them. If abandoned outside they will die or they will fill up animal shelters and private rescue.



California ferret lovers are pretty united that we would like to see a $100 one-time license fee due at the time of purchase on any ferret sales with the money going to local animal control services. We want this to bring up the price of a domestic ferret to about $250. It is our feeling that at that price only serious ferret owners will buy ferrets.



We also support a prohibition on ferret breeding in California. Most states allow on the sale of sterilized ferrets and that should dispel the fear of ferrets going feral.



There is also a concern of rabies in ferrets. It has been proven that ferrets can’t transmit the rabies virus in their saliva but I understand some kind of mandatory rabies vaccination is going to be needed to make legalization of ferrets palatable.



There was no room to put this on your form.



Attempts to get this through the Legislative Analyst’s office required going through the Department of Agriculture, not the Department of Fish and Wildlife, as these are domestic animals.



Thank you for the consideration,



Pat Wright Our Amazon Affiliate