Sigh. The CA battle is a long, ugly fight between several sides. In truth, it is a really stupid battle. According to what the ferret sites say, the Audabon Society has convinced Fish and Game that ferrets will become a nuisance and go feral. Apparently there is some state funding at stake.
The truth-
- MOST ferrets are fixed when they are about 4 weeks old. Unless you get one from a breeder, it is fixed. Most people are not willing to deal with the headache of an unfixed ferret so even those that come from breeders get fixed by the time they are a year old unless the owner is wanting to get into breeding (which for ferrets is expensive, time consuming and fraught with peril). Unlessthe Audabon Society knows something my high school biology teacher didn't, I'm pretty sure that all of those fixed ferrets will not go breed in the wild and create feral colonies.
(The only know feral ferret colony is in New Zealand. It was established by humans as a predator for some New Zealand pest. In the states we have tried for years to re-introduce the black footed ferret, a distant cousin to the domesticated ferret, back into wild colonies. It is an ongoing project that has suffered many, many setbacks. If a federally funded research project with lots of built in safetly controls can't get a wild ferret colony to establish, why do we think some random, neutered pet ferret is going to be able to establish an out of control colony?)
- MOST ferrets are big slugs. While they were certainly used for ratting and hunting back in the day, most modern American ferrets have had that bred right out of them. Of the dozen or so I have had over the years not a one could hunt anything (unless perhaps it was a Froot Loop bush... we all had a definite fondness for those and could track them down in a heartbeat). For a brief while until the snappy trap worked I had a mouse living under the ferret cage and pilfering food from it. rolleyes: (In England there are still some hunting lines in existance. Those ferrets are tough, but they are not pets. They are working animals. Hunting ferrets are illegal here in the states.)
- Ferrets cannot decimate crops unless a herd of thousands went galloping through a freshly planted field and smushed the young plants and dug them all up. Since there are zero known records of herds of thousands of wild ferrets running amock, our food sources are probably safe. CA farmers can sleep easy at night without fears of maurauding ferrets.
I have had many ferrets over the years and have loved them all. They are goofy, stinky, crazy little poop masters for sure, but they are hysterically funny and a joy to have around. Some of mine have been crazy little nutcases. Some have been mellow and sweet and loving. Like dogs and cats there are all kinds of personalities. Across the board though none have had the ability to live outside on their own. Should any have escaped they would have perished. Unlike my dogs and cats, they are not able to cope outside alone. They are now 100% domesticated.