Esta é a notícia colocada em 18/04/2001 em que informavam que os furões não tinham sido aceites pelo União Europeia como pets com direito a passaporte. Como vêm, só demorou mais 3 anos a conseguir essa autorização…
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http://www.kc3.co.uk/~dt/Miscellaneous.htm
The European Union refused yesterday to put ferrets on a "passports for pets" scheme which means that they are not free from quarantine (which cats, dogs, hamsters, rabbits and even guinea pigs are). The decision has angered the British as there are 1.5 million ferrets living in the country. The official explanation to the law is that there are no accurate blood tests to prove that vaccinated ferrets are immune from rabies. However, during the debate, one MEP, according to the Independent, explained why ferrets should not be classified as pets: "it was only the British and the Irish who liked putting them down their trousers", This decision has angered British ferret-fanciers. "We are very, very worried," said Simon Bishop, the owner of Ferret World, a shop devoted to the animals. "We can't understand why we are being singled out. People who went to the British championships want to take our pets abroad. Ferrets make perfect pets. You can teach them to do anything a dog can do, such as fetch a ball." "In short," writes the Independent, "the new cross-Channel hostility towards ferrets may prove to be a marriage made in Euro-heaven, where the Brits and the Eurocrats suddenly find that they do have a common agenda, after all. Getting rid of the pound sterling may still (for the moment) be argued over. But the Brussels-British decision to abolish the pet ferret may yet prove to be the beginning of a long and beautiful Euro-friendship." (EUobserver.com 18/4/01)