This is our request for Assemblyman Kelly Seyarto to introduce a ferret legalization bill. We are asking him because even before he was elected he listened to and responded to our concerns.

Domestic ferrets are domestic animals and domestic ferrets are legal per the state Constitution of California.

CIV DIVISION 2. PROPERTY [654 – 1422]

There may be ownership of all inanimate things which are capable of appropriation or of manual delivery; of all domestic animals; of all obligations; of such products of labor or skill as the composition of an author, the good will of a business, trade marks and signs, and of rights created or granted by statute.

The California Fish and Game Commission gets around this by intentionally misclassifying domestic ferrets as wild animals.

§2116. Wild Animal
As used in this chapter, “wild animal” means any animal of the class Aves (birds), class Mammalia (mammals), class Amphibia (frogs, toads, salamanders), class Osteichtyes (bony fishes), class Monorhina (lampreys), class Reptilia
(reptiles), class Crustacea (crayfish), or class Gastropoda (slugs, snails) which is not normally domesticated in this state as determined by the commission.

The real reason for the continued prohibition on domestic ferrets is opposition from special interests; The Sierra Club, concerned about another meat-eating pet contributing to global warming, and PETA/HSUS who officially (and rather secretly) oppose pet ownership in general.

“We at PETA very much love the animal companions who share our homes, but we believe that it would have been in the animals’ best interests if the institution of “pet keeping”—i.e., breeding animals to be kept and regarded as “pets”—never existed.”

Despite the heavy political clout of those two organizations, the average Californian would not support a ferret ban if they knew the real reason behind it.

We realize that to succeed any ferret bill would have to prohibit breeding and sale of ferrets in pet stores. 

We hope and believe that Assemblyman Seyarto has the courage to stand up for us, "the little guy" and work for our right to own a domestic pet, legal in 48 other states with no record of environmental damage.