The Working Group - Same Mistake Twice?

I'm excited that our EIR Consultant, Dr. Geo Graeining is preparing the first step towards an EIR to legalize ferrets in California. After so many years we are actually getting somewhere.

If you have been following this story you know that we had a false step back in January 2007. When money was offered to help legalize ferrets we decided to do the Environmental Impact Report. The best minds in ferret legalization got together and a strategy was mapped out.

Somewhere, they made a turn. It was decided unilaterally and without consultation that an EIR was not needed. Governor Schwarzenegger, they thought, merely needed a well-reasoned study to see the light.

There is a certain logic to this. The Department of Fish and Game and their allies at the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health Services have put out spurious research papers on ferrets for years. Fight fire with fire.

But this has been done before. And the head of the current working group might have had a hand in it. The result was a very enlightening paper CDFA 1990 Public Information Manual.

This paper was so well done that it made me a ferret-legalization advocate.

But it backfired.

The California Department of Fish and Game dug in their heels and became even more anti-ferret. They did not like to be shown up.

It came to mind because this paper was referenced on a DFG website. My fear is the next issue (and I have no idea when it will be out) will have a similar affect.

Ferret lovers are a cautious group. They don't want to make mistakes. Don't do this or it could set legalization back for decades! (not years - decades!) is something I often hear.

Use a professional and comply with whats been asked of us is my current reply. And based on the money that came in from CLIFFNotes readers - there is support for this position.