Dear California,
I am not sure to whom I should address this letter, I only know it's important it's heard by the public. I am a 25 year old resident of Sacramento county. Currently enrolled in college to become a Registered Veterinary Technician. Yesterday, January 3rd 2011, I had the opportunity, what I thought would be a privilege, to attend  a portion of the Department of Fish and Game's annual meeting, held here in Sacramento. What I saw was disgraceful. Pat Wright, from Legalize Ferret's, started speaking to the commission at 47 minutes into the meeting. (As seen here in the video of yesterday's meeting http://www.cal-span.org/cgi-bin/media.pl?folder=CFG) Right away the commission was rude and arrogant. Mr. Wright had been ceded extra time to speak by two other people, which should have granted him 9 minutes. Instead the committee only allowed him to have 5. And it just went down hill from there. Mr. Wright would ask the committee what other steps they needed to do to proceed legally in bringing this case to the dept. President Jim Kellogg would refuse to answer his questions. But would state that "Their job is to protect the wildlife." That even though Mr Wright is entitled to his opinion that Ferret's are no threat,  the dept feels he is wrong. Now wait a minute... April/2000 Mr. Kellogg asked the group to provide an Environmental Impact Report. (EIR) Which they did. Costing around 13 thousand dollars. The EIR was done by Dr Geo Graening of California State University Sacramento. He proved that Ferrets are too domesticated to become feral, and are no threat to California's environment. Let's also consider that Ferrets, while illegal in the state of California, are here. In fact 26 percent of the Nation's ferret supplies are sold right here in California. That's 5.5 million dollars annually. Ferrets have been here all this time... And yet they have had NO negative impact on the environment... This is all fact. No "feelings" here. Maybe it's Mr. Kellogg's feelings that need to be researched, as it looked as though his personal feelings were not about Ferret's, but aimed at Mr. Wright. Telling Mr. Wright that "they didn't have time to keep going over this." That he was going to "Quit responding to Mr. Wright." When Mr. Wright pointed out that Zebra's and Monitor Lizards (Which can grow to be 6 feet) are both legal "Pets" to have in California, despite the threat they pose, Mr. Kellogg said "Those animals are the reason we refuse to legalize ferrets." How much sense does that make?

Seeing our public servants in action was more of an eye opening experience then I had bargained for! Having never been interested in politics, this was my first time to witness the corruption in our Government. And I am truly disappointed. I pay taxes so that Jim Kellogg can be rude to a man who was only asking him What other Legal steps needed to be taken? I for one can't wait for  January 15, 2012, when Mr. Kellogg's term at the Department of Fish and Game is over. I can only hope that whomever replaces him will have the decency to treat other's with common courtesy and respect. Perhaps whomever replaces Mr. Kellogg will also see legalizing Ferrets as a way to boost California's drowning economy. Instead of beating down the little guy!

Sincerely,

Crystal Nelson

As many of you know I am an animal lover. I am even going to college to become a Veterinary Technician. I have grown up with pretty much every animal that you can think of! My mom is a horse trainer, who also raises cows, chickens and pigs. We had Guinea Pigs, rats, Iguanas, snakes, dogs, cats, jackrabbit, lop eared bunny, sheep, goats, cockatiels and ferrets. The only thing that makes those animals different from one is that all are legal in the US. Except for Ferrets. Which are legal in every state except for California.