Amused by the other Giuliani thread… Der Mayor recently signed off on a bill prohibiting the keeping of a variety of strange animals (ferrets, poisonous snakes, etc…). A Harpers’ magazine article also published a transcript of the Mayor’s rather vituperative radio programme exchange with a ferret enthusiast. (Roughly, ‘you worry too much about weasels, get a life & get professional psychological help’.)
One loves to hate that politician, but is the rule good ? Should anyone keep whatever animals they please ? (At least without some kind of bond, training, license, insurance, etc…?)
Next they’ll come after me, demanding that I free my pet Bengal Tigers just because I have no clue how to keep it happy except with lots of weed.
But what exactly is the big fear about ferrets. Have there been gruesome ferret maulings in the Big Apple.
NO! Make a law against keeping police officers as pets. There have been some nasty reports of them attacking innocent New Yorkers!
Who said that who worries too much about weasels? I don’t get that exchange.
I can understand the fears about venomous snakes - they should be licensed.
As to the ferret issue … I don’t think the Mayor really understands what a ferret is. A ferret is a domesticated polecat, just as a dog is a domesticated wolf. There are no wild ferrets. People have kept them for years as deverminators (they have narrower heads than cats and can thus hunt in more crevices). “Deverminator” is a word I just made up and I want you all to start using it regularly. If there is a problem with ferrets, it’s that they kind of stink up the place, but that’s an issue between landlord and tenet.
I’ll need to find the numbers, but there actually have been several ferret maulings involving young children being bitten.
Ferret owners often go to great lengths to defent their pets, and most ferrets are fairly well-behaved. But, Boris, dogs have been domesticated a HELL of a lot longer than ferrets. Ferrets have been bred for quite a while, but only recently as pets.
-andros-
“Listen Children Eternal Father Eternally One!” Exceptions? None!
-Doc Bronner
Here in California, ferrets are considered a threat to migratory birds, especially game birds. Officials are worried that domesticated ferrets will escape and breed. Ferrets are particularly fond of bird eggs (like most weasels). The fear is that these “wild” ferret families will start to decimate the bird population. Don’t know about the truth behind it, but this is the main argument that this state has been using to keep the little suckers banned.
Well, I suppose the little buggers could escape, and I suppose they could breed, if anyone were masochistic enough to keep an unaltered ferret around the house. I was assuming they’d be neutered.
And yes, I have heard of young’ns being bitten by ferrets. They’re a bad idea for a family with small children. They are also less commonly allowed to run free (I suppose dogs aren’t allowed to run free in New York City, I’m just talking about generalities), so I can’t believe they present a greater danger to society than your average abused pit bull. (Yes, I know, your pit bull is very sweet and gentle, but the other guy’s isn’t.)
I think it’s just that ferrets are less common, so people don’t really know how to care for them. If you’re not that your ferret is 100% harmless, then you shouldn’t let them around your kids/neighbors/pet rabbit unsupervised … the same goes for dogs and hyenas and stuff.
