POLL: Domestic Ferrets in New Zealand

[happyferrets]

While there are few (or no) laws governing the keeping of Cats and Dogs as pets in New Zealand there seems to be a horrific tendency to condone the keep of Domesticated Ferrets.

Domesticated Ferrets are "house bound" unlike Cats and Dogs.
Domesticated Cats and Dogs are mostly left to their own devices and free to roam and are at the top of the list of New Zealand Wildlife destroyers.

Domesticated Ferrets that may escape into the wild have little or no chance of survival.

So why does New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) apply such a hard stance against these pets instead of the ones that are really the problem?
This is unclear and their stance is unjustified.

It is clear that DOC's intentions are to eventually rid New Zealand entirely of Domesticated Ferrets by applying these laws:
- You cannot keep more than three Ferrets.
- All Ferrets kept must be de-sexed.
- Ferrets cannot be sold or bred.
It is DOC's hope that the above will eventually see the Domesticated Ferret in New Zealand disappear entirely.

There is a big love and movement amongst Ferret owners and these laws have devastated their owners and resulted in an expanding underground movement.

[Tezza]

Hi happy ferret's
I totally agree with what you say & can't fathom out why us ferret lovers in NZ haven't got together by now & done something about it!! It's been 15 years now & all we've done is just sit back & excepted it.
We ferret owner's always knew where our ferret's were day & night, not like some other irresponsible pet owner's that I could mention!!, There is no evidence at all that pet ferret's have had any impact on the NZ environment or ever will so how DOC managed to get away with this bill is beyond me?. I live in a rural community in Whangarei & in 18 years of living there I have never seen a wild ferret or stoat but have seen hundred's of feral & domesticated cats, so you make your own assumption's of what's killing all the native wild life? 

[wirehunt]

Oh doc realize ferrets aren't the bird killers they make them out to be. Ask any of them in a formal setting and they admit it's stoats.