“It’s all about ferrets being domestic but classified as wild”

Back in July we did an official Petition for Regulation Change asking the California Fish and Game Commission to stop referring to domestic ferrets as wild animals in their code section 2118. The reasoning, ferrets are not wild animals and for the legislature to see them referred as such was one more reason for them not to legalize them.

For example, from a previous petition asking the Commission to remove ferrets from the prohibited species list:

When we submitted the petition, we were surprised to see it as asking the Commission to remove ferrets from the prohibited species list. That was not our intent, we’ve already done that, and the results were the same as above.

It was explained to us that the Commission can not call domestic ferrets domestic because that would cause the Commission to lose jurisdiction over ferrets. Domestic animals, we were told, were regulated at the county level.

So we asked, (here is the email) if that was the case, in these exact words –  If domestic ferrets were classified as domestic – would they be legal? and received this answer

Dear Mr. Wright,

Your question of whether or not the word “domestic” added to ferrets would make them legal in California is “no” unless a regulatory change under the Administrative Procedures Act is approved by all reviewing authorities.

This would require a full regulatory review simply because it changes the meaning of the current regulations. And during regulatory review it would be subject to authorities granted by the State Legislature to make the amendment and allow for review and approval by other agencies that may be affected by the change such as Food and Agriculture, Fish and Wildlife, Health Services, Office of Administrative Law, etc.

Jon

Based on this new answer we are asking the Commission to reconsider our petition for regulation change with our original intent – to remove references of domestic ferrets as “wild” in Fish and Game regulations.

He prompty replied:

Dear Mr. Wright,

Thank you for your email, and I understand what you are requesting. The Commission has the authority to file amendments to Title 14, California Code of Regulations, via the public petition process.

The Fish and Game Commission does not have authority to modify language in the Fish and Game Code. That would require the legislature to make a change via a bill, and the governor to sign it into law.

Sincerely,
Jon