Illegal to own a ferret in CA?

[jackieann82]

I have always heard ferrets are illegal in California. But I have also heard that you can own one but you just can't sell or breed them in the state. I did some internet research to try and sort things out and what I found is that it is completely illegal to own a ferret in the state of CA. I also read that gerbils are legal in CA. Does anyone know that this is true? It just seems strange that there are so many people here with ferrets yet they are illegal. Don't get me wrong, I understand people break the law but it just seems to be a lot of people doing something that according to what I read puts them at risk for 5-10 years of jail time. I just wasn't sure if the websites I found were up to date or not. Anyone have any experience with this?

[knuckles]

as far as I know....both ferrets and gerbils are still illegal in California.  There are groups that are working to change this.  And I know alot of people have ferrets here.  I also know that vets will treat them. 

from what I understand, most of the time, the punishment if caught is more likely having to give up your ferrets.

[*Kat*]

Yes they are illegal, along with many other animals in california.  It's so that if they get loose they will not disturb the natural wildlife.

[Goosemoose]

They are illegal but any petstore will sell products for ferrets and vets see them without any problem. It is pretty strange!

[jackieann82]

Thanks for the info!

[bubbleslovesfuzzies]

Yes they are illegal, along with many other animals in california.  It's so that if they get loose they will not disturb the natural wildlife.

Ferrets will die if they get outside..... They are completely domesticated and cannot survive without humans. Some laws are just uneducated and pointless...

Jenny

[JohariZ]

There are more reasons than that why they are illegal in CA. One is that they are terrified of ferrets carrying rabies and other diseases... especially a disease they say can transfer to cows. But for a ferret to get rabies, it has to actually survive a fight/attack from an animal that is already a carrier, and for that to happen would be pretty rare... Another reason is that they are afraid that ferrets will form a feral population, and take over, killing wild birds, and other native rodents. But most ferrets can't reproduce, because it is illegal in most places to have an intact ferret without a license. So there wouldn't be a feral population, and the ferrets would die, they are fragile. Sure they might kill some birds or rodents and stuff like that, but I know that my ferrets never would, they have no interest in killing anything, they even play with my rats (supervised of course, they love eachother it's strange).

ok, cattle, rabies, feral pop, native wildlife... I know that there is another one...

But mainly the law was made be highly uneducated people, or mainly a long time ago when you could extremely easily get an intact ferret...

Oh yeah, something else about ferrets used in hunting, because that was one of their uses MANY years ago...

But yeah, the law was made by people who really weren't thinking.

Z

[bubbleslovesfuzzies]

There are some people in other countries (they post on www.ferretchatserver.com) that still use ferrets for hunting rabbits. In Australia you can buy intact ferrets for about $15 American. It is different everywhere.

[NutKitty]

Definately illegal.  I had to give up my ferret to a friend over three years ago when I moved to CA.   

[JohariZ]

by many years ago, I mean in the states... they are mainly pets though