Dear Editor,

Domestic ferrets are legal in 48 states. It has been surprisingly difficult to get traction here in California. For one thing California is huge state for an under-funded grassroots organization such as ours. But in this age of the Internet, with all of its mostly free tools for organizing such as e-mail, web, Facebook and Craigslist, www.legalizeferrets.org has managed to sign up nearly 6,000 subscribers to our weekly email newsletter.

We are nearly done with a study to be used to file the official Environmental Impact Report which should lead to ferret legalization in California. We can document our arguments - the domestic ferret has not posed any environmental, health of ecological problem anywhere in North America. That includes California which we know from the sale of ferret supplies has 27 percent of the nation's ferrets, despite their illegal status.

One way we have been successful is building our numbers is through Craigslist. A simple “Legalize Ferrets” ad placed around the state has so far resulted in 393 people signing up for our newsletter.

But some people don't want us to organize. The Sierra Club and Audubon Society will not even talk to us. They are opposed to ferret legalization and that's that. People like Richard Hirai of Eureka are proud to flag our ads in Craigslist. We respect his right to disagree, but not his right to thwart our organizational efforts.

We will continue to organize.

Scientific integrity and personal freedom mandate that our ferrets can come out of the closet. It may not be the biggest issue -- but the continued ban on domestic ferrets despite the overwhelming evidence that they are safe and already here in large numbers should alarm all freedom loving Californians.

Pat Wright

San Diego