LA MESA, Calif. /California Newswire/ — In an effort to legalize domestic ferrets in California, one of only two states to ban the critters, ferret owners are asking for help from PETCO(R), the state’s largest pet supply retailer. “Now we’re asking PETCO to support ferret owners,” said Pat Wright, of LegalizeFerrets.org.
California has the largest ferret population in the nation. According to the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (the largest pet trade association in the nation) Californians buy 27 percent of the nation’s ferret supplies.
Ferret legalization proponents are working with Dr. Geo Graening, a professional EIR Consultant with Natural Investigations and California State University Sacramento to comply with the Department of Fish and Game’s requirement of an Environmental Impact Report before they will address the issue of ferret legalization in California.
An initial report from Dr. Graening has encouraged our group and the next step is from Dr. Graening is to:
* Perform an exhaustive literature review
* Update bibliography of ferret studies and natural history
* Prepare questionnaire
* Research contact info at each state agency
* Mail questionnaire
* Follow-up phone conversations (reminders, clarifications, etc.)
* Enter data into database
* Perform statistics
* Analyze risks with various scenarios of ferret introduction/management
* Write final report / prepare manuscript for submission to Journal of Mammalogy.
Which comes to another $12,200 in expenses.
www.LegalizeFerrets.org is preparing an official request to PETCO to assist in the funding. “In order to give our request the clout it deserves we are asking people to send us their PETCO receipts from anywhere in the country and for any supplies bought at PETCO — not just ferret supplies,” adds Wright.
Please send your PETCO receipts to:
LegalizeFerrets.org
PO Box 3395
San Diego, CA 92163.
i do not have a petco in my town, the nearest one is about 30 miles away. i have traveled there when needed, but we do have a pet smart would you like those receipts as well?
If PETCO ignores us we will ask PetSmart. We are also asking everyone who sells ferret supplies in California for help. So don’t save your receipts for now, but we might come back to that.
Pat Wright
I would love to help. I got all three of my fuzzies from petco. Do you need the original receipt or can I send a copy?
Hi Pat, I will go through all my receipts and give you what I have. I just want to say that all your efforts have been much appreciated very much, in the quest to leagalize these wonderful animals. Thank you so much :)
Another great idea,I feel like we are going in the right direction and are on track for success. Pat is doing a great job getting the message out there.
Pat, I have asked my family and friends to save their Petco receipts for your cause. I don’t have a ferret,but had a lost one
for about a day and a half. When we found the owners, I was really sad to see her go. Although I knew nothing about the little critters, the one I found was so sweet and loving and fun to watch. I became really interested in ferrets after this recent episode and then found out they are illegal to have in California! I think it is ridiculous that these government officials should have so much control over these issues, when they can’t even see for themselves the facts about these animals that even I have learned over the last couple of days. Are they that dumb that they need someone to spend thousands of dollars to put a report together for them that they should be able to figure out themselves? If these officials are that illiterate, then even when they receive the EIR, they probably won’t be able to understand it, since they don’t understand how outdated the law is to begin with…or, is it just that they don’t care about the residence of California and their families and this is just a way to blow off the entire issue. Let’s get some ferret/animal lovers elected to help clean up the dead feable minded officials who only get a fire lit under them when someone is greasing their palms.
If there are ways that others like myself can help your organizations like legalizeFerrets .org and Ferrets Anonyomus, I would love to know about volunteer work etc.
Laura, your story about the lost ferret genuinely moved me. I don’t very often reply to articles on this topic and, instead, usually send whatever moneys I’m able and volunteer my help to organizations, as you suggested you would do yourself. I think I found your story so powerful because it reminds me of my own experiences wanting ferrets in CA. I live in WI now, and I have two ferrets, but I’ve always stayed aware of the ongoing battle in CA, as it is my home state and I may wish to return there some time; however, I just can’t imagine my life without ferrets, and I don’t think I can handle the torment of losing my ferts if I came back to CA and was reported by someone. The stories are heart-wrenching. I’m so glad to learn that there are people in CA (other than current/past ferret owners) who are joining the cause. Thank you for everything you’ve done and will do to help the ferrets and their owners there. It’s been a long, hard, frustrating, and unnecessary (for several of the reasons you mentioned) fight.
Pat, I’m behind you all the way. I believe with all my heart that the EIR is going to pay off. You’re closer now than you’ve ever been, and even this article is a HUGE step in the right direction. Of course I will send you all my PETCO receipts in support of ferret legalization in CA. I have some ethical issues when comes to PETCO and ferrets, but I will set those issues aside for the moment and DO IT FOR THE LITTLE GUYS!!!
Cheers!
Kristine
Kim,
Copies will work just fine, thank you.
Pat Wright
NOTE TO READERS FROM THE EDITOR:
Hi, folks – please remember our site is a news portal and we are not related to the Ferrets Anonymous folks.
For questions, and direct queries to their org, you should visit their website and submit questions to them using the contact info found on their website.
We welcome your feedback on the topic of ferret legalization (pro/con) in California and have no wish to curtail any dialog, however, please direct queries related to the organization to them on their own site, not here. :-)
Thank you.