Board of Health Says No to Ferret Pets

If ferret loving New Yorkers expected to take their slinky pets for a stroll this spring they suffered a disappointment on Tuesday.

The New York City Board of Health voted to uphold the ban of ferrets as domesticated pets within the city limits. The decision came after board members voiced concerns about vaccination, sterilization, restraints when outdoors as well as the potential for ferrets to bite and crawl into apartments through walls due to their “unique skeletal structures.”

“What happens if we legalize ferrets in a setting like New York City with the way the housing stock is?” said board member Dr. Lynn Richards who seemed to have the biggest concerns about the legalization. “I’m greatly troubled by this. I have to say that, at this point, I’m not at all convinced that it wouldn’t be a substantial health risk to allow ferret ownership in New York City.”

Supporters to lift the ban adamantly disagreed.

“Today they got this one wrong, they were just wrong.” said David Gaines of the American Ferrets Association who traveled from Washington DC for today’s public hearing.

Though the board voted 3-2 to lift the ban, the proposal needed six votes to pass. Four members abstained.

Some ferret owners were expected to still flout the ban, arguing that they posed no health risk, nor had a higher risk of biting than other domesticated animals.

“I have been around ferrets for 15 years, and have always had them around my nieces and nephews,” said Isis Vera, of Brooklyn who is the president of the Ferret club of New York City. “With any animal it starts with ownership and you have to set boundaries when it comes to animals an infants, that’s just common sense.”

TheHealth Department reported only four ferret bites between 2008 and 2014.

“Why are we prohibiting an animal that has been domesticated?” asked a teary-eyed Ariel Jasper, who petitioned to lift the ban. “Why did we go through a public hearing if none of our statements were presented.”

This wasn’t the first time the board has had to respond to a petition to legalize an animal for domestication. In 2013 the board was got a petition to legalize pigs for domestication, but that was also denied.