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Patrick Wright looks for a San Diego legislator to defend his animal rights
Twister: You are confusing two different species. The Black-footed ferret, who lives in holes in the Great Plains, is Mustela nigripes. They are wild animals. Nobody thinks they should be pets. The ferrets that people have as pets are Mustela putorius furo and are genetically different. These weasels have been domesticated for thousands of years. If you release one into the wild, it will die within days because it simply does not have the skills to survive. Even the slowest cat or tiniest dog has a better chance than they do. How do I know this? Because the shelter I volunteer for gets the call to pick up stray ferrets, and I have seen the starving, terrified wretches that domestic ferrets turn into when they are abandoned. So, your whole argument about enslaving a wild animal? Interesting and certainly worth discussion. But completely irrelevant in this context. Mustela putorious furos need to be kept as pets. They need to be kept in homes with people who know how to treat them, including giving them correct foods, time out of their cage each day to play, and good medical care. Since humans are the ones who bred them to be docile and dependent, we have a responsibility to care for them.— May 12, 2012 11:55 p.m.