Domestic ferrets entered the pet trade en masse around 1990. Sure, people had ferrets previously but when ferrets Kodo and Podo appeared in the 1982 film Beastmaster, many people were smitten. Most states had no prohibitions on ferrets and the few that did, except California, reversed their positions. By 1996 only California and Hawaii still banned domestic ferrets.
Shortly thereafter, the ferret legalization effort in California got underway. Ferret lovers advocated that ferrets were indeed domestic, harmless, and make great pets for those who for whatever reason want something other than a dog or a cat.
California state government dug in their heels. They even published an outrageous” PET EUROPEAN FERRETS: A HAZARD TO PUBLIC HEALTH, SMALL LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE“. The Fish and Game Commission along with the California Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health Services all teamed up to make sure ferrets remain illegal in California.
Ferret enthusiasts persisted, year after year without success. We tried to comply with all requested procedures including an Environmental Report commissioned from Sacramento State University. It confirmed, to nobody’s surprise, that domestic ferrets have never survived in the wild, cannot go feral, and pose zero threat to California’s ecology. The various agencies continued the ban, however, and no progress has been made towards legalization in many years
And for many years ferret owners addressed the stated concerns of our opponents, never taken seriously.
But things started to change in 2015. As more Californians became aware of ferrets, the idea that ferrets are wild animals was quite literally laughed at during a meeting of the Fish and Game Commission. Enforcement of the ban became practically non-existent but no progress on legalization was being made either.
Why couldn’t California’s ferret lovers make progress? A hint was delivered by F&G President Eric Sklar who said that any attempt for the Commission to legalize ferrets would be met by opposition from “The Environmentalists” who would sue if the Fish and Game allowed ferrets. “Get a legislator,” he said – “Legislation isn’t covered by CEQA.”
But legislators were and continue to loathe the idea of getting involved.
So, ferret lovers worked on the local level. We approached the city of La Mesa. And that city graciously adopted a resolution calling for responsible ferret legalization legislation.
Shortly thereafter the city of Encinitas, after extensive preparation agreed to hear our case, and staff recommended the city council approve a similar resolution.
On the day of our presentation, three members of the local Sierra Club appeared. They mentioned the exploding rabbit population in Australia, they discussed other matters that had nothing to do with ferrets. Four out of five city council members, all who had endorsements of the Sierra Club shot us down. “Ferrets are cute, but we’re going with science” they ironically stated.
What is the Sierra’s Club position on ferrets?
It has nothing to do with the domestic ferret’s misclassification as a wild animal. It has to do with global warming. The pet industry consumes a lot of meat. Meat production is a contributor to climate change. Thus began a discussion of the carbon footprint of pet ferrets.
Coincidentally, the Humane Society’s most influential person in Sacramento is on record making her dog a vegan and had this to say:
“Jennifer Fearing, a Sacramento lobbyist for the Humane Society of the United States, said the study shows that “everybody who’s eating meat is contributing to global warming.”
(https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/environment/article164990657.html)
Besides the Sierra Club, the other major source of opposition is from the PETA influenced Humane Society of the United States. It only takes a brief web search to find their opposition:
“We at PETA very much love the animal companions who share our homes, but we believe that it would have been in the animals’ best interests if the institution of “pet keeping”—i.e., breeding animals to be kept and regarded as “pets”—never existed.”
(https://www.peta.org/about-peta/why-peta/pets/)
While we have been refuting the paradoxical argument that domestic ferrets are not wild animals, the real reason domestic ferrets are still illegal in California is opposition from the Sierra Club (ferrets ad to global warming) and the HSUS (pet ownership is “animal slavery.”)
Our ferrets are domestic. There is nothing to dispute that. Domestic ferrets are legal per our state constitution.
CIV DIVISION 2. PROPERTY [654 – 1422]
There may be ownership of all inanimate things which are capable of appropriation or of manual delivery; of all domestic animals; of all obligations; of such products of labor or skill as the composition of an author, the good will of a business, trade marks and signs, and of rights created or granted by statute.
California gets around this by citing in the code §2116. Wild Animal… which is not normally domesticated in this state as determined by the commission. However, ferrets never got any sort of hearing.
Instead of discussing the issue of ferrets being domestic and harmless, ferret advocates need to stress that we have a right to the domestic pet of our choice. California pets are not “animal slaves” and they should not be made to be vegans. That is the twisted logic of certain extremists who have way too much clout over our lives and our pet family.
Legislators need to listen to us.
Unattributed quote from a Sierra Club activist:
“Every animal that’s brought into the state puts additional pressure on our native wildlife. If we could outlaw dogs and cats we would.”