Ferreting Out the Truth About Pet Ferrets

The trade in exotic animals is a multimillion-dollar industry. If you have enough money and know the right people, you can buy virtually any kind of animal (even over Internet websites) with no questions asked and in spite of whatever legislation is in effect in your area.

October 13, 2004 - New York City, New York

Melanie and Melody Baez of the Bronx were walking their ferrets on leashes along Zerenga Avenue when one of the animals bit Jon-Luc Luciano. The boy's mother filed a civil suit charging the girls with harboring "wild" and "ferocious" animals which are "prone to vicious, unpredictable attacks on humans, particularly young children and infants." The attack had occurred in spite of the adoption of a comprehensive and forward-thinking regulation in June, 1999 by the New York City Board of Health which had outlawed not only the adoption of ferrets as urban household pets but also 150 other types of creatures including wolves, giraffes, hippopotami, whales, vultures, and all non-human primates. This illustrates the problem with well-considered legislation ... namely, that just because the law exists doesn't mean people are going to comply with it. Even though 343 ferrets were rounded up after the ban went into effect, 67 more New Yorkers have been bitten by ferrets in the years since.

As in the case of most exotic pets, devoted ferret owners insist that the animals are lovable and harmless. I personally met a family with a ferret on a leash on the El one day and in my opinion, you could hardly find a cuter and more affectionate little creature but that is true only if the pet is well taken care of and feels secure.

Ferrets may be cute and cuddly, but they are also rodents and as such are equipped with sharp teeth and a tendency to feel easily threatened by the most innocent careless gesture. They can escape from their owners' homes with alarming ease, surfacing either outside or in someone else's place. Starving and frightened, these animals could well cease to be lovable and become instead a serious compromise of public safety, especially because of the threat of rabies. At least 14 domesticated ferrets have been diagnosed with the disease in this country and the length of the infectious period in a normal-appearing but sick ferret is now unknown.

Meanwhile, there are thousands of cute and cuddly dogs and cats out there -- animals who have spent hundreds of years evolving into creatures who for the most part enjoy belonging to and being petted or otherwise handled by human beings -- and the truth about dogs and cats is that they are legal too, even in New York City.