Go Arnie!!!!!!!!!  I've always wanted one of the little carpet sharks but didn't want to deal with the bullshit laws here in the PRK.

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/12/27/state1938EST0086.DTL

Owners of illegal ferrets look for friend in Schwarzenegger

Saturday, December 27, 2003  

(12-27) 16:38 PST SACRAMENTO (AP) --

There could be hope yet for ferrets, banned as pets in California for 70 years on fears they might weasel their way into the wild and ravage populations of ground-dwelling birds.

Scofflaw ferret owners believe that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who shared the big screen with a ferret in "Kindergarten Cop," would sign legislation legalizing the creatures.

The Senate passed a ferret bill last spring, and although it later died in the Assembly, supporters hope to revive the measure next year.

Owning one of the animals is a misdemeanor in California, though the crime is rarely prosecuted.

Hawaii is the only other state that bans ferrets, but the California Department of Fish and Game is convinced it's the right policy.

"Like any kind of weasel, they're very good at what they do," said Ron Jurek, a department wildlife biologist. "And weasels keep on killing."

Schwarzenegger has been busy with other priorities -- the state's multibillion dollar fiscal mess, for one. On Saturday, a spokeswoman refused to comment on what his ferret agenda might be.

Still, ferret enthusiasts see hope in the new governor.

"Before, we never had anyone who could give a hoot," said Laurie Pickersgill, a veteran ferret advocate and owner of three pet stores in the Los Angeles area.

Others think it's not Schwarzenegger's past ferret dealings that could bode well, but his sense of fairness.

"We have an inequity here and this man is sensitive to that kind of thing," said Jeanne Carley, founder of Californians for Ferret Legalization. "The state wildlife agency doesn't regulate cats and dogs, so why should it regulate ferrets?"

That's what Sen. Dede Alpert, D-San Diego, wants to know. She sponsored the most recent pro-ferret legislation, which passed the Senate 31-5 despite opposition from the California Waterfowl Association.

Alpert told the Los Angeles Times she hoped to move the measure through the Assembly next year. The bill would legalize ferrets currently owned in the state but ban new ferret sales or imports pending an environmental study.

"He's worked with ferrets in 'Kindergarten Cop,"' Alpert said of Schwarzenegger, "so he knows they're not the man-eating creatures that Fish and Game makes them out to be."

The "reasoning" behind banning banning ferrets is "once they escape their owners, they will prey on the precious local wildlife." Booo-shee-ite I say. There's not much I know about ferrets, but I know _one_ thing for sure: to poop they /have/ to back up into a corner. No idea why, but that's how it is. No corner to back into = ferret doesn't poop = exploding weasel = ferret shit and fur everywhere.
Also, the ferret we know today has been bred in captivity for centuries, it is pretty much a domesticated animal, much like a chihuahua. Technically, a chihuahua is a close relative of the wolf, but come on...

I always thought the chihuahua was an offsping of the annyoingbeast, my friends sister has one and keeps it outside I hate that thing.

There's got to be tons of ferrets in CA because they're always showing up in movies!  
To quote Lebowski:  Nice marmot dude.

Personally, not my idea of a great pet.  Everytime I go over to someone's place and they have a ferret, invariably the first thing you are greeted with whenever you walk in is someone screaming at you, "CLOSE THE DOOR!  THE FUCKING FERRET IS OUT!"

They can stink like high hell if you don't have them de-glanded (sp?) right?  If I wanted a pet that didn't come when I called it - I'd elect to get a snake.

My ferret would come when I called it.  You just need to get a Pavlovian association with treats.

They're great pets, but they crap everywhere. The books say that they can be litter trained, but that's a damn lie.  Like Kar98 said, any corner becomes their toilet.

California pet shops sell more ferret supplies than any other state by far even though they are totally illegal here.

The ferret owners groups publish maps and guides that show routes into the state bypassing the agricultural checkpoints. [:D]

The only state agency that enforces the law is DFG.  If THEY find it it's dead.  Any other law enforcement organization in the state couldn't give a shit about them.