>>> "furoes" <
[email protected]> 12/19/03 22:49 PM >>>
Dear Sir,
I'm sorry for bothering with an issue that is outside the UK, but i read that You had a word about the passport for ferrets and the several contacts that i tried in my country didnt work... Therefor, i come to You to let You know about a very sad situation that happens in my country, Portugal.
Ferrets are ilegal for hunting here... Situation that we all agree that needed to stop! But when they decided to forbid ferrets, they have forget that some people do have ferrets as pets, like people do in the UK, France or Spain that is close to us. In Spain, You can have ferrets as pets but not hunt with them....In Portugal, if You have pet ferrets, they will be killed or taken to a zoo and the owner will have to pay for breaking the law.
But we are inside Europe, and the European Comunity... So we are just europeans cause we use ?s?
I have contacted the ICN (Instituto de Conservação da Natureza/ Institute of Preserving Nature) and Direcção Geral das Florestas (Forest's Direction) that are the boards here related with animals... They are the ones that have the power to take a ferret from its owner.
Till now, they didnt make any efforts to solve this situation and i have to admit that we (the pet owners ferrets) live in fear that at any point a police officer can come to my home and take away my ferrets.
You see Sir, we dont intend to protect hunters or any ilegal activities... But we care for our ferrets, we take them to the vets, we give them their shots for rabies and distemper and they are family members like the cats and dogs that we have.
But if people cantravel to Portugal and bring their ferrets on holidays... How can they be here legal and the ones that live here be illegal?
I know that You are a very busy person, and this isn't Your issue... But we have knocked on so many doors and they all have ignored us... This is more of a desperate act asking for Your help, or Your guidance... After all portuguese ferrets cant have the same rights that the other european ferrets?
Some of our contacts have been with Dr. João Loureiro, from the ICN, who was the person that has showed more interest in helping us... He goes to Brussels often and he's been trying to change the law since 1999.
I represent a small comunity of lovers and owners of pet ferrets, we arent many but we are committed to our believes... We have started this week a petition of signatures to legalize ferrets as pets in Portugal... Here's the link, if You would like to sign too:
http://pwp.netcabo.pt/ferrets/
If You can lose a little of Your precious time and take a look at the portuguese ferrets and give us a light of what to do to bring pet ferrets to legality, we would be very thankful.
Thank You for Your attention over this matter.
Best regards,
Rita Ribeiro