We have long been baffled as to how a domestic animal can be classified by the state of California as a wild animal. It makes no sense as everyone knows a domestic ferret is a domestic animal. The reason why our Fish and Game Commission refuses to properly classify them as domestic is that then they would lose jurisdiction and domestic ferrets would be under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health, as are dogs and cats.
When I first read about the new classification of bumble bees I thought it was a joke. But there is no joke about it.
California recently unleashed an absurdity that makes the question of the domestic status of a domestic ferret seem … tame.
California’s Third District Court of Appeal ruled that certain species of bumblebees are indeed fish, thereby extending the legal protection of endangered species to them.
The ruling came on a petition filed by agricultural organizations, which sought legal protection for the bees. These organizations argued that the California Endangered Species Act (CESA) is only applicable to birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and plants and not insects.
They then filed a case against state wildlife officials, seeking to bring four bumblebee species – the Crotch, Franklin, the Suckley cuckoo and the Western bumble bee – under CESA. The Almond Alliance of California vs Fish and Game Commission then reached the California State Appellate Court of the Third District, where judges used liberal interpretation of the word “fish” to place bumblebees under it.
When a state starts to unravel science for the convenience of those who hold power, all sorts of injustices can occur.
If you can classify a bee as fish, what’s next?
How are we mere ferret owners supposed to appeal to their logic and sense of right vs wrong when they are so willing to disregard facts?
This is all unimaginable. But it shows how easy it is to disregard the truth to get what you want.
I’m sorry California. The domestic ferret is a domestic animal regardless of your classification. And a bumble bee is not under any circumstance, a fish!