Should keeping ferrets be legalized?

Question

At present it's legal to keep ferrets except in California and Hawaii. Those States ban them. The problem is that in a mild climate, if ferrets get loose they will quickly breed out of control and destroy the native wildlife. Australia's experience with French rabbits and then with cane toads shows what problems can happen when non-native species are introduced. They can quickly become a serious pest. Ferret owners would like to see their hobby legalized. What do you think, and why?

Answer 1

Well, a simple solution would be- if they get loose and breed like crazy.....don't let them loose. A domesticated ferret- in someones home, has no reason to ever get lose. Except maybe in the house. I dont own any ferrets , but I don't have a problem with other people that do. Theyre cute funny animals, and the people I know who own them are responsible for them. For a ferret to get lose, and start breeding like crazy, it'd have to meet another ferret that also got lose. I don't know about where you live, but here, I never see any ferrets running around outside. Even if one did happen to get lose, domesticated animals can rarely survive in the "wild". It'd get hit by a car or starve to death before it ever had a chance to breed and become a problem.

Answer 2

Well I live in PA and have a house in FL and we are allowed to have them in both states. OH WV, DE are also allowed to have them. I guess I don't have a problem since they are legal?

Unfortunately there are states where irresponsiple people need to be controlled not the pets. Just like everyone wants a piranna for a pet, until they need to care for it properly. Hawaii is a delicate climate that would not be able to rebound from certain disasterous effects. If the state ban them there was a good reason, even if you don't believe so.

This also works for Pitt bulls and other "so called" vicious dogs. It isn't the dog it is the owner. Imposing laws on the owners is the key. If I am not mistaken you can get a permit to own ferrets in CA and HI.

I have to stand with the reasonings behind the states for now. They have a legit complaint.

Answer 3

Yes they should be legalized, ferrets are the best pet I've ever had and I've run through most of the basic pets, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, mice, and fish.

Escaping and breeding shouldnt be a problem since most all of ferrets sold at least at pet stores where I assume most people get them are sold spayed or neutered. If they're gonna make a law why not make one that requires a special license to keep breeding ferrets and all privately owned ferrets have to be fixed.

Answer 4

Ferrets have been domesticated for over two thousand years. For California and Hawaii to ban them by saying that they are "wild" animals is just bunk. New York City also has (or had, I haven't been paying attention lately) the same ban. I can tell you from personal experience that ferrets who are let outside, accidentally or not, have a very slim chance of surviving for very long. I lost one of my ferrets to a neighbor's dog when someone who let him outside when I was not home (long story). In Rhode Island we have to get a license for $10, but that is just to make sure that ferret owners are properly taking care of their pets. If California and Hawaii are worried about ferrets going "feral" they should just adopt a similar policy that polices the owners.

Answer 5

Actually, they are not BANNED in most states, they are controlled. This means that you have to have a license to own them just as you would with any other exotic creature. The reason for this is far more than simple breeding issues. When people pay for a license, many states require them to be somewhat educated about the animal and may even require passing a short test on what care/food/etc the animal requires to he healthy and happy. A lot of people assume that they are like a cat and you can drop a litter box and feed them cat food and that's all the care they require. This isn't true as any responsible ferret owner will tell you.

Also, when you are required to pay for an expensive license in order to even GET your expensive animal, you are less likely to just open the door and pitch it outside when it turns out to require more care than you wanted to spend on it. "It stinks" leads someone with an investment to looking for ways to resolve the problem such as frequent baths or special shampoos, whereas someone who just paid $20 for the ferret may just dispose of it like garbage.

Ferrets also faced widespread animal abuse. Ferrets chew. That's a fact of life. Give it something TO chew on and you may be ok. They have their own unique smell. That too is a fact of life. If you don't want that smell on your furniture and clothes then you have to keep the ferret off of those things. Also, while ferrets can be litter trained, it is not as easy as it is with a cat. It's going to take a little bit to train the animal and in the meanwhile you will have ferret waste in your corners or other areas. Some people don't have the money for large cages and buy the animals assuming that they can just give them the full run of the house. Then when the animal does things they don't like they get a small cage for it. Animal controls often see ferrets in gerbil cages, small bird cages and even 10 gallon fish tanks. These ferrets almost always turn out to be one that someone got through the paper. They didn't learn about the animal, they just thought it would be "neat" to have one. Ferrets kept for long periods in small areas suffer physical ailments. People who put them in these small cages are also the type that tend to clean the cages less often. Trust me, you would start considering licensing laws after seeing a few scrawny, half-bald, starving ferrets lying limply in the bottom of a cage it can barely move in.

Answer 6

No one said they were wild animals. But they are able to breed and live. California has enough problems. Flocks of macaws, they have to kill lakes and rivers every year because of piranha (which are also illegal as pets there), etc etc.

And Hawaii has no natural predators They dont even allow garter snakes in for that reason. Any predator would destroy them quickly. They have enough problems now with pigs and rats that have gone wild.

Personally Id answer that ferrets should stay illegal. Or at least, controlled as an exotic.

Answer 7

People dont consider the amount of care the little creature needs...They are very curious and need alot of attention..They have a peculiar order and need to be spayed or neutered..They say this takes away the smell but it doesnt..its an oddity pet, and thats what makes them attractive to people..in the long run they get tired of them because they are active and tend to get into everything..Like monkeys..They need to be in pairs..do not to good alone. .. people get tired of them then they end up.being tossed from one home to another..not a good situation. I think there would too many unwanted ferrets if they were legalized..Too many

Answer 8

we have seen waht the mongoose, canetoad and all them other aliens that they thought was harmless did, bob would hate to see what the ferret can do. ferrrets may seem harmless, but back in teh day they thought the mongoose would kill the rats and could only be a plus, what did it do? it kills a large amount of native birds and now they cant control them.

Answer 9

Yes. Ferrets are domesticated animals and can't survive out in the wild. The ban is bad science.

Answer 10

Unfortunately, there aren't enough responsible pet owners out there, which is why this ban was established in the first place. If everyone who owned a pet took care of it in a responsible manner; i.e., proper feeding, proper housing, spaying or neutering, proper medical treatment and not just dumping the pet when the owner gets bored with it, states wouldn't have to impose bans on the keeping of pets. Sadly, people will never achieve this level of responsibility. So, in its stead, laws about what animals we keep and how they're kept must be imposed. I wish it were different......