LA MESA, Calif. — 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Please send your PETCO receipts to:
LegalizeFerrets.org, PO Box 3395, San Diego, CA 92163.
