LA MESA, Calif., Sept. 3, 2026 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — In March 2025, LegalizeFerrets.org filed Form FGC-1 with the California Fish and Game Commission — the formal petition, under Government Code §11340.6, asking the state to reconsider its classification of domestic ferrets as restricted wild animals under Title 14, §671. Preparing it properly took considerable effort. The Commission accepted it as Petition 2025-003.
Image caption: Fifteen years, same loop. California ferret advocates were told in 2011 that their environmental report was with the Department for review, with “no timing” for completion. In 2025, Petition 2025-003 was again sent from the Fish and Game Commission to the Department for “review and recommendation.” Advocates are still waiting for a final decision.
Government Code §11340.7 requires an agency, within 30 days of receiving a petition, to notify the petitioner and either deny the petition in writing or schedule it for public hearing. The statute also permits an agency to grant relief in part or take “any other action” it determines is warranted. The dispute is whether referring a petition for “further consideration” can leave it there indefinitely, without a final disposition.
In June 2025, the Commission voted unanimously to place the petition under “further consideration” and referred it to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for “review and recommendation.” More than a year later, no recommendation has returned to the Commission in an open meeting, and no final disposition has issued.
LegalizeFerrets.org has sued the Commission and the Department to compel a final answer. In seeking dismissal, the State argues that LegalizeFerrets.org “did not allege that the Department has a mandatory duty or the authority to take action under Government Code section 11340.7.” Advocates say that creates an obvious problem: the Commission sent the petition to the Department for “review and recommendation,” while the State now argues the lawsuit identifies no legal duty requiring the Department to complete that work.
For ferret advocates, that raises a question bigger than statutory interpretation:
WHY SHOULD THEY TRUST ANOTHER OPEN-ENDED FISH AND GAME REVIEW?
“We did the thing the process asks of you,” said LegalizeFerrets.org founder Pat Wright. “We filed the petition properly. The Commission considered it, sent it out for review and recommendation, and more than a year later it’s still unresolved. At some point, the public has to be able to trust that ‘further consideration’ actually leads somewhere.”
THEY HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE
The concern isn’t hypothetical.
At an official Commission meeting on April 7, 2011, ferret advocate Jeremy Trim asked whether an environmental report submitted in support of legalization had been reviewed. A Department of Fish and Game representative answered:
“We received a document, and it’s currently within the Department.”
Asked how long the review would take, the answer was direct:
“No, there’s no timing. It’s just as soon as we can get staff that have the expertise to review it and look at it.”
The Department described what was supposed to happen next: it would review the document, work with proponents if changes were needed, and return it to the Commission for a public decision.
THAT LOOP WAS NEVER COMPLETED. NO DECISION ON THAT REPORT WAS EVER BROUGHT BACK TO THE COMMISSION.
The pattern continued. A separate petition, 2016-008, was continued in 2016 so staff could review its environmental checklist — and no decision followed.
On April 20, 2023, Commission President Erik Sklar told advocates: “Unless you folks want to spend the money — it’s not easy and not cheap — to do a CEQA study and bring it to us, we really can’t do anything.”
Advocates funded the study through Sacramento State University research and returned to the Commission on August 22, 2023, with Wright asking directly: “We’re ready to get started. We’re going to take President Sklar up on his offer. What do we do?”
The Commission moved to the next speaker.
Then, in 2025, Petition 2025-003 was referred for another “review and recommendation.”
“Every time, it’s the same pattern,” Wright said. “Nobody says no. Nothing becomes final. It goes somewhere else ‘for review,’ and review has no deadline. We don’t have to guess where an open-ended review can lead. We watched it happen in 2011.”
WHAT THE LAWSUIT ASKS FOR
LegalizeFerrets.org is not asking a court to legalize ferrets, and does not dispute the Commission’s authority to deny the petition outright.
“Deny it. Grant it. Do the review the Department told us in 2011 it would do,” Wright said. “What we don’t think the law allows is an answer that’s built to never become final.”
OCTOBER 2 COURT HEARING
The State’s demurrer is scheduled to be heard October 2, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. in Department 16B of Sacramento County Superior Court. The State is asking the court to dismiss the case; LegalizeFerrets.org argues that the petition process cannot simply remain unfinished.
LegalizeFerrets.org has advocated for the legal treatment of domestic ferrets as companion animals in California since 2005.
Learn more about Legalize Ferrets, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, at: https://LegalizeFerrets.org/
MEDIA CONTACT:
Pat Wright
Legalize Ferrets
(619) 757-7426
LegalizeFerrets.org
MULTIMEDIA:
Image link for media: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/26-0903-s2p-legferrets15-300dpi.webp
Image caption: Fifteen years, same loop. California ferret advocates were told in 2011 that their environmental report was with the Department for review, with “no timing” for completion. In 2025, Petition 2025-003 was again sent from the Fish and Game Commission to the Department for “review and recommendation.” Advocates are still waiting for a final decision.
News Source: Legalize Ferrets
