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"The agency introduced “gripping” testimony in a Senate committee meeting from a 14-year-old Nevada girl who had been mauled as an infant by a ferret." No doub

"The agency introduced “gripping” testimony in a Senate committee meeting from a 14-year-old Nevada girl who had been mauled as an infant by a ferret." No doubt a terrible tragedy for the child and parents and one hopes it never happens again. However, there's a reasonable compromise here - simply make it illegal to own a ferret if you have children below a certain age where they're incapable of defending themselves - perhaps six or so. Similarly, if you own ferrets you must ensure that they don't endanger other children that are not your own. Overtight regulation such as banning ferret ownersip until children are say teenagers is also not the answer as kids get great fun with playing with them. Here sense ought to prevail. As a kid I was mauled by a dog and my injuries hurt, but we don't ban them nor would I ever advocate that except in exceptional circumstances - or perhaps with some very vicious breeds such as Rottweilers (as some municipalities have done). Similar logic ought to follow with respect to ferret ownership. Moreover, it seems to me that the 1933 rule banning ferrets because of farmers' concern for their farmland ought to be questioned. They should put up solid evidence of potential damage or shutup (why is it a problem in CA to the point of banning but not so elsewhere?). BTW, my mauling was essentially my own fault, I pushed my hand through a picket fence to show a schoolfriend something I'd found and in the excitement I'd forgotten his dog was vicious. The dog grabbed my hand and lower arm to the point of bleeding and wouldn't let go until he ordered it to do so. Incidentally, I'm a dog lover and have owed dogs but never a ferret (they weren't very common in my area when I was a kid or I likely would have). However on second thoughts it wouldn't have been the smartest idea as I owned a collection of white rats and mice. Owning and looking after them was quite an interesting learning experience but that's another storey.

snarf21 4y ago
One could easily argue that if an animal isn't safe to be left alone with children 6 and under that it is a very bad choice for a pet. Kids would have fun playing with a tiger cub too. Just get a cat.
- tokai 4y ago
  Cats can also be dangerous for young kids.
  - sigzero 4y ago
    Dogs do this as well. We've had several pairs of ferrets. No incidents with 4 kids growing up.
    - hilbert42 4y ago
      Correct, and as expected. Thanks for the backup.
- pxc 4y ago
  There really are no animals that are safe to be left alone with children under 6. Critters of any species are liable to bite or scratch if they are badly hurt, scared, or trapped, and kids are clumsy, energetic, unpredictable, and often very rough with animals (usually without any malice, of course). And with small animals (e.g., cats, ferrets, dogs under 10 lbs), an unsupervised 5-year-old is a danger to the animal, too. A kindergartener tripping and falling on a tiny animal like that can break bones! Animals can be great with kids and vice-versa, but it's really important to always maintain supervision with kids and animals.
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    ...Seems you too didn't read what I actually said about the actual age and my caveat. Does the word 'perhaps' mean anying to you? May I suggest you provide me with sample text that would make my points unambiguously clear?
    - Dylan16807 4y ago
      That comment wasn't talking to you, and wasn't about what you said.
      - hilbert42 4y ago
        Fine, I accept that, my humble apologies.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  I did say perhaps six, that is I didn't stipulate a specific age. Moreover, I also put a caveat to the effect that it ought to be illegal to own a ferret if kids were of an age where they were unable to protect themselves. What more could I've said to be reasonable? Clearly there's no pleasing some people no matter how reasonable or considered one's comments are - and you're one of them. Your ludicrous implication that a ferret is as dangerous as a tiger cub points to the degree of how unreasonable you actually are. Incidentally, despite not owing one as a pet, I've actually held and played with ferrets and I found them great fun and they've never bitten me - unlike some family cats I've known. As I've posted previously on HN, I thank myself truly lucky that I grew up in an era before overprotective helicopter parenting and thus - unlike many of today's generation - I along with my friends grew up with both autonomy and resilience. There would have been nothing further from my parents' minds than the thought of my parents banning me from owning a ferret and by the standards of the day they were overprotective of me (I used to whinge about it when I saw what my friends' parents let them get up to). P.S., thanks for the downvote. - Edit/afterthought: decades ago when I was a kid I was living outside the US and up to that point I'd never been there let alone California. Even so, at that young age I well aware of CA's well deserved reputation of being the 'whacky' state - the whole world was aware of the fact. Thus it's little wonder CA's the odd-man-out on ferret laws, it's just acting true to form.
ocdtrekkie 4y ago
The reason this comment is at the bottom is because you managed to come up with a regulatory proposal that is absolutely ridiculous to both sides of this: 1. The weird people in California who think ferrets are dangerous and/or could cause an ecological problem, and hence, think they should be banned outright. 2. Anyone who's actually ever interacted with a ferret, and thinks the idea you should be banned from owning one while you have young children, because that's a ridiculous regulatory overreach. As a note, I own literally hundreds of different items that could be lethal to my infant. My infant is in the same house as all these things! I have knives, hammers, saws, a lawnmower, all sorts of toxic cleaning supplies, numerous electric devices which connect to 120V power. Of course, as a responsible parent, I know to keep them and my infant separate. The idea that a parent can't also be responsible to not allow pets access to an infant is... absolutely ludicrous, especially when applied to a relatively safe pet like a ferret. For those who have never actually seen a live ferret: They most commonly live in cages, and are supervised when out. The videos of folks you see online where they have free roam tend to be the sort of people who have explicitly decked out one or more rooms of their house to be safe for ferrets to run around without getting hurt (which is far more likely than them hurting anyone). 90 years ago, some farmers got worried about ferrets, got a law passed in California with no justification in science, and now despite 48 other states demonstrating there's no actual risk here, supposedly enlightened progressives are scared of them. No wonder disinformation has thrived in today's tech platforms.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  The only additional comment I'd make is the fact that rules in the vast majority of other States were made before the internet and social media took hold of people's senses.

snarf21 4y ago

One could easily argue that if an animal isn't safe to be left alone with children 6 and under that it is a very bad choice for a pet. Kids would have fun playing with a tiger cub too. Just get a cat.

tokai 4y ago
Cats can also be dangerous for young kids.
- sigzero 4y ago
  Dogs do this as well. We've had several pairs of ferrets. No incidents with 4 kids growing up.
  - hilbert42 4y ago
    Correct, and as expected. Thanks for the backup.
pxc 4y ago
There really are no animals that are safe to be left alone with children under 6. Critters of any species are liable to bite or scratch if they are badly hurt, scared, or trapped, and kids are clumsy, energetic, unpredictable, and often very rough with animals (usually without any malice, of course). And with small animals (e.g., cats, ferrets, dogs under 10 lbs), an unsupervised 5-year-old is a danger to the animal, too. A kindergartener tripping and falling on a tiny animal like that can break bones! Animals can be great with kids and vice-versa, but it's really important to always maintain supervision with kids and animals.
- hilbert42 4y ago
  ...Seems you too didn't read what I actually said about the actual age and my caveat. Does the word 'perhaps' mean anying to you? May I suggest you provide me with sample text that would make my points unambiguously clear?
  - Dylan16807 4y ago
    That comment wasn't talking to you, and wasn't about what you said.
    - hilbert42 4y ago
      Fine, I accept that, my humble apologies.
hilbert42 4y ago
I did say perhaps six, that is I didn't stipulate a specific age. Moreover, I also put a caveat to the effect that it ought to be illegal to own a ferret if kids were of an age where they were unable to protect themselves. What more could I've said to be reasonable? Clearly there's no pleasing some people no matter how reasonable or considered one's comments are - and you're one of them. Your ludicrous implication that a ferret is as dangerous as a tiger cub points to the degree of how unreasonable you actually are. Incidentally, despite not owing one as a pet, I've actually held and played with ferrets and I found them great fun and they've never bitten me - unlike some family cats I've known. As I've posted previously on HN, I thank myself truly lucky that I grew up in an era before overprotective helicopter parenting and thus - unlike many of today's generation - I along with my friends grew up with both autonomy and resilience. There would have been nothing further from my parents' minds than the thought of my parents banning me from owning a ferret and by the standards of the day they were overprotective of me (I used to whinge about it when I saw what my friends' parents let them get up to). P.S., thanks for the downvote. - Edit/afterthought: decades ago when I was a kid I was living outside the US and up to that point I'd never been there let alone California. Even so, at that young age I well aware of CA's well deserved reputation of being the 'whacky' state - the whole world was aware of the fact. Thus it's little wonder CA's the odd-man-out on ferret laws, it's just acting true to form.

ocdtrekkie 4y ago

The reason this comment is at the bottom is because you managed to come up with a regulatory proposal that is absolutely ridiculous to both sides of this: 1. The weird people in California who think ferrets are dangerous and/or could cause an ecological problem, and hence, think they should be banned outright. 2. Anyone who's actually ever interacted with a ferret, and thinks the idea you should be banned from owning one while you have young children, because that's a ridiculous regulatory overreach. As a note, I own literally hundreds of different items that could be lethal to my infant. My infant is in the same house as all these things! I have knives, hammers, saws, a lawnmower, all sorts of toxic cleaning supplies, numerous electric devices which connect to 120V power. Of course, as a responsible parent, I know to keep them and my infant separate. The idea that a parent can't also be responsible to not allow pets access to an infant is... absolutely ludicrous, especially when applied to a relatively safe pet like a ferret. For those who have never actually seen a live ferret: They most commonly live in cages, and are supervised when out. The videos of folks you see online where they have free roam tend to be the sort of people who have explicitly decked out one or more rooms of their house to be safe for ferrets to run around without getting hurt (which is far more likely than them hurting anyone). 90 years ago, some farmers got worried about ferrets, got a law passed in California with no justification in science, and now despite 48 other states demonstrating there's no actual risk here, supposedly enlightened progressives are scared of them. No wonder disinformation has thrived in today's tech platforms.

hilbert42 4y ago
The only additional comment I'd make is the fact that rules in the vast majority of other States were made before the internet and social media took hold of people's senses.