But regardless, you need to weigh those risks against the enjoyment and psychological benefit that owners derive from pet ferrets, just like with pets of any other species.
This almost sounds like satire. You can't have a ferret. Dad said so. Go play with something else.
Sorry man, you don't get to have ferrets. You also can't own a cheetah or a chimpanzee. Get a hamster, cat, dog, tarantula, python, goat, chicken, alpaca, chinchilla, fish, parakeet or one of the dozens of other options.
It takes like ten seconds to go over the benefits of ferrets. Why be lazy? I don't think it's a bad idea to briefly weigh both sides in just about every situation.
- Pluses: furry animal in the house. This benefit can be bestowed by a dog or a hamster.
- Minuses: annihilation of several wild species native to CA. Neither dogs nor hamsters pose this risk.
What's the unique psychological benefit that owners get from a ferret that they wouldn't be able to get from a cat, dog or any of the numerous already legal pets?
Instead you can face a year in jail if you put down the cat that's been hunting your rabbits and chickens
Our chickens stare down the neighbour's barn cat (who hunts full size rabbits BTW) and the cat is like... hm.... not worth it, and she moves on.
Now, I wouldn't want cats around when they're still chicks, true. A rooster comes in handy then, though.
The cat would regularly terrorize the larger chickens, but it knew not to fuck with the little guy.
They also cause problems for nesting birds, most notably for ground and hedge nesting kinds.
I think they're extremely good pets for kids, because they're friendly, active, (relatively) robust and much less likely to cause harm to a kid than a larger animal like a dog.
The risks are massive, and the opportunity cost miniscule.
I need do no such thing, especially when the argument is one logical step away from "but ma freedumbs!". Or whataboutism, I haven't decided. But "yeah, we might lose an endangered species or two, but what about my needs?" is what I'm reading here.