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two rants in three days! i rock!
Governor Schwarzenegger,
I would like to encourage you to seek the legalization of ferrets as pets in California. As a student at the California Institute of Technology and hailing from Reno, Nevada, I was crushed to learn that I would not be able to bring my two beloved pets with me to college. It was a choice between the animals I love and pursuing my educational and career-related dreams. No student should have to make such a choice.
As you can tell from my e-mail address, I choose school and left my ferrets with my family in Nevada, however that does not mean that the issue is solved. I would like to be able to pursue an entire education here in California, including graduate school to work for a PhD, but if it means missing out on the entire lives of my pets, I make have to look for graduate schools elsewhere.
You yourself have worked with ferrets in the past and must recognize that they are not the dangerous animals certain organizations would have you believe. Mine are vaccinated for rabies and distemper annually, though this is simply for their sake, not that of public safety, as there has never been a documented case of a ferret passing rabies to a human. In fact, ferrets get dumb rabies rather than the type dogs get, making them much less likely to attack and more likely to simply sleep, and by the time the disease is concentrated enough in a ferret's saliva to pass to a human, the animal has already died from it.
Also, both of my ferrets are fixed, as are all others I have seen in pet stores, meaning that even if ferrets did escape, they would be unable to breed and create feral populations. Even the wild Black-Footed Ferret has become too domesticated from protected life to survive in the wild - how can we expect domesticated ferrets to live any more successfully? As far as aggression goes, ferrets are no more aggressive than a dog, and given their size and strength, they are thus comparatively far less dangerous than a canine.
In a weird way, they are actually more human friendly - ferrets have fur similar to minks, which is less likely to set off allergies than rabbit, dog, or cat fur. In fact, my own mother is allergic to all three of those latter animals, but has no problem handling and even cuddling my ferrets. Both of my younger brothers play with the ferrets on a regular basis. One of them is even deathly afraid of dogs, as he has been bitten multiple times, and once by a cat. However, the ferrets obviously pose no threat to him - he is not afraid of them.
As a final note, ferrets are not ratlike, as Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston seemed to believe following their movie "Along Came Polly". Ferrets are actually members of carnivora, not rodentia, and are far more closely related to a cat than a rat. One simple look at their teeth will verify that they are in no way rodent. Beside that point, even if they were, people keep mice, hamsters, and rats themselves as pets. Why are ferrets anymore threatening?
In conclusion, Mr. Governor, please consider what I have said here and research on the internet the actual facts about ferrets. There is no valid reason why people should be allowed to keep dogs, cats, and rats as pets, but not ferrets. Please, support the legalization of ferrets as pets.
Thank you for your time.
edit 11:10pm: edited because i remembered the carnivora detail and to make the non-rodent point clearer.
I would like to encourage you to seek the legalization of ferrets as pets in California. As a student at the California Institute of Technology and hailing from Reno, Nevada, I was crushed to learn that I would not be able to bring my two beloved pets with me to college. It was a choice between the animals I love and pursuing my educational and career-related dreams. No student should have to make such a choice.
As you can tell from my e-mail address, I choose school and left my ferrets with my family in Nevada, however that does not mean that the issue is solved. I would like to be able to pursue an entire education here in California, including graduate school to work for a PhD, but if it means missing out on the entire lives of my pets, I make have to look for graduate schools elsewhere.
You yourself have worked with ferrets in the past and must recognize that they are not the dangerous animals certain organizations would have you believe. Mine are vaccinated for rabies and distemper annually, though this is simply for their sake, not that of public safety, as there has never been a documented case of a ferret passing rabies to a human. In fact, ferrets get dumb rabies rather than the type dogs get, making them much less likely to attack and more likely to simply sleep, and by the time the disease is concentrated enough in a ferret's saliva to pass to a human, the animal has already died from it.
Also, both of my ferrets are fixed, as are all others I have seen in pet stores, meaning that even if ferrets did escape, they would be unable to breed and create feral populations. Even the wild Black-Footed Ferret has become too domesticated from protected life to survive in the wild - how can we expect domesticated ferrets to live any more successfully? As far as aggression goes, ferrets are no more aggressive than a dog, and given their size and strength, they are thus comparatively far less dangerous than a canine.
In a weird way, they are actually more human friendly - ferrets have fur similar to minks, which is less likely to set off allergies than rabbit, dog, or cat fur. In fact, my own mother is allergic to all three of those latter animals, but has no problem handling and even cuddling my ferrets. Both of my younger brothers play with the ferrets on a regular basis. One of them is even deathly afraid of dogs, as he has been bitten multiple times, and once by a cat. However, the ferrets obviously pose no threat to him - he is not afraid of them.
As a final note, ferrets are not ratlike, as Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston seemed to believe following their movie "Along Came Polly". Ferrets are actually members of carnivora, not rodentia, and are far more closely related to a cat than a rat. One simple look at their teeth will verify that they are in no way rodent. Beside that point, even if they were, people keep mice, hamsters, and rats themselves as pets. Why are ferrets anymore threatening?
In conclusion, Mr. Governor, please consider what I have said here and research on the internet the actual facts about ferrets. There is no valid reason why people should be allowed to keep dogs, cats, and rats as pets, but not ferrets. Please, support the legalization of ferrets as pets.
Thank you for your time.
edit 11:10pm: edited because i remembered the carnivora detail and to make the non-rodent point clearer.