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City of New York: Hippos, whales and ferrets, oh my!

NEW YORK (Court TV) -- It's easy to understand why the City of New York would outlaw pet hippopotamuses. Or, whales, for that matter.

But ferrets? That's a whole other story, say urban owners of the cuddly four-legged critters.

"They're whimsical and unusual," said Gary Kaskal, head of a group called the New York City Friends of Ferrets.

Late last month, a state Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit brought by the Humane Society of New York challenging the city's three-year ban on the weasel relatives. NYCFerrets.com, a site born when ferrets were banned, chronicles the plight of the creature which now seems destined for the city's suburbs.

The site is dedicated to re-legalizing its furry friends by selling "Legalize ferrets, NYC!" license plates to raise funds and by keeping visitors up to date with efforts to get ferrets off the urban blacklist. The site also explains the history of the ban and the issues at stake.

Along with care tips, a section called "More about Ferrets" tells potential owners to think hard before getting one, reminding them that ferrets are illegal and may be "confiscated and killed or shipped out of state."

Pet ferrets are legal in most states and even in New York, outside the city's five boroughs. In June 1999, the city's Board of Health outlawed the black-eyed scavengers along with more than 150 other creatures considered too dangerous for city living, including iguanas, wolves, giraffes, hippopotamuses, whales, vultures and all non-human primates.

Ferrets are prohibited in the states of California and Hawaii and in the cities of Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Dallas.

According to a fact sheet published by New York's Department of Health, ferrets remain illegal in the city because they are not safe with children, citing a case in 1999 in which the family ferret bit a 22-month old child on the face.

"More than 400 ferret attacks on humans have been documented since 1978, including 63 unprovoked attacks on infants and small children, and one fatality," read a June 2000 report on the critters.

But owners of the bottle-brush tailed Mustela furo (the scientific name) maintain that their pets are harmless. Ferrets, they say, are clean and can be trained to use a litter box like cats and are sociable like dogs.

But in addition to being a potential hazard, city officials say the critters can simply be a nuisance. They can slink in and out of tiny holes providing an unwelcome surprise.

"They can escape and travel through tiny holes...with potentially harmful consequences for unsuspecting neighbors," said the Department of Health in a statement.

Kaskal, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the court's decision was a mistake. He said ferret ownership is still high in New York despite the ban.

"If there are ferrets everywhere then they can't be dangerous," he said.

Kaskal said he believes that city officials had more suspect reasons for banning ferrets. Kaskal claims that the ban came after his Shelter Reform Action Committee (ShelterReform.org) lashed out one too many times at the city's treatment of animals in the shelter system.

"This is the payoff," he said.

Department of Health spokesperson Greg Butler said political conspiracy is not a practice of city health officials.

"I can assure that this section of health code is solely to protect the public health of New Yorkers," he said.

Most ferret advocates try to weasel the truth out of the Department, pointing fingers at the higher rabies and bite rates of dogs. The Department has a simple explanation: dogs are legal so there are many more of them -- and thus, more dog bites.

Melissa Blake, co-founder of NYCFerrets.com, said the Board of Health banned ferrets because they didn't understand them.

She said when the board discovered how harmless ferrets were they didn't want to admit their error because of "pride and stubbornness."

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Dr. Stephen Zawistowski, a senior vice president and certified animal behaviorist, said ferrets aren't the agent provocateur in urban tales of baby attacks that the Department of Health makes them out to be.

"[Reasonable] People wouldn't leave an infant in a room with a ferret any more than they would with a dog," he said, "The question is where are mom and dad?"

Though New York City officials are not actively hunting ferrets, if a complaint or bite occurs they are taken to the Center for Animal Control where the animals are either put to death or sent to a shelter out of state.

According to the Center's records, 343 ferrets have been taken in since the ban of which 248 were placed in shelters outside the five boroughs and 95 were put down.

If a ferret is seized in the city, NYCFerrets.com has the how-to on getting it back.

Kaskal said advocates plan to reintroduce a bill lifting the ban on ferrets, which was passed last year by the city council but vetoed by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

"I have every confidence that when the politicians look at the information they will lift the ban," Blake said.