Petition to legalise ferrets in California
A petition to decriminalise ferret ownership in the state in California, USA, has failed to meet the required amount of signatories, following a threshold change at the White House.
Due to their classification as wild animals under California's Department of Fish and Game since 1933, it remains illegal to own a ferret in the state – a law that has been lobbied against since the 1980s, when they started to become popular as pets.
The department has maintained the ban for fear that if the ferrets were to escape their owners, they may breed in the wild and threaten other native species.
Aside from a few US cities – including New York City – the only other state to have a ban on ferrets is Hawaii, in order to protect its unique flora and fauna.
LegalizeFerrets.org, a group set up in 2005 with the single goal to legalise ferrets as pets in California, formed a petition to the White House at the beginning of January that required 25,000 signatures within 30 days in order to receive a response.
However, due to the "explosive growth of users and petitions", the signature threshold for the White House has since been changed to 100,000 within 30 days. The petition has now expired, after failing to meet the required number of signatories.
Pat Wright, head of LegalizeFerrets.org, formed the group after a bill to make ferrets legal in California made its way to the desk of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004, but was later vetoed. He has since run for office, organised campaigns and even gone to jail in order to change ferret rights.
"We're asking [the government] to give the issue a fair hearing and it's falling not on deaf ears, but on hostile ears," he explained. "That's why a little nudge from the White House, an acknowledgment that we're being treated unfairly, would be extremely welcomed by California's besieged ferret owners.”
While pet ferrets remain illegal in the state, Mr Wright estimates that up to 500,000 are kept in California alone, but owners avoid taking them to the vets for fear that they may be confiscated.
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
