{"id":126354,"date":"2025-05-21T08:01:53","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T12:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/?p=126354"},"modified":"2025-05-20T21:19:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T01:19:31","slug":"deemed-wild-and-dangerous-but-fish-game-cant-produce-a-single-document-or-respond-to-our-records-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/deemed-wild-and-dangerous-but-fish-game-cant-produce-a-single-document-or-respond-to-our-records-request\/","title":{"rendered":"Deemed Wild and Dangerous &#8211; But Fish &amp; Game Can&#8217;t Produce a Single Document or Respond to Our Records Request"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LA MESA, Calif., May 21, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) &#8212; On February 12, 2025, a formal Public Records Act (PRA) request was submitted to the California Fish and Game Commission seeking documentation to justify the classification of domestic ferrets as &#8220;not normally domesticated in California&#8221; by LegalizeFerrets.org. The request specifically asked for any scientific studies, internal memos, environmental risk assessments, or correspondence used to uphold the ongoing prohibition of domestic ferrets under Title 14, Section 671 of the California Code of Regulations.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/25-0521-s2p-ferrets-records-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"LegalizeFerrets.org\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-126353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/25-0521-s2p-ferrets-records-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/25-0521-s2p-ferrets-records-800x600-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/images\/25-0521-s2p-ferrets-records-800x600-200x150.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><br \/><em>Image caption: While the months fly by, we\u2019re still waiting for answers. Our Public Records Act request to the California Fish and Game Commission has gone unanswered\u2014just like the last 35 years of silence.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As of today &#8211; <strong>more than 90 days later<\/strong> &#8211; no responsive records have been produced.<\/p>\n<p>We acknowledge and appreciate the professional efforts of Executive Director <strong>Melissa Miller-Henson<\/strong> and her staff, particularly <strong>Cynthia McKeith<\/strong>, who confirmed receipt of our request and committed to transparency. This is not a failure of staff, who were given an impossible task: to produce evidence that likely doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not angry with the staff. In fact, we feel for them. Melissa Miller-Henson inherited a legacy of bureaucratic neglect. We\u2019re sorry she got stuck with this,\u201d said Pat Wright, who submitted the request. \u201cBut after 35 years of petitions being ignored or quietly denied without justification, we\u2019re done being silent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The request asked for documents dating back to <strong>1931<\/strong>, when the original mustelid regulation was enacted. The public has a right to know: was the ferret ban ever based on actual evidence, or has it simply persisted unchallenged?<\/p>\n<p>In the absence of records, <strong>this silence speaks volumes<\/strong>. The California Fish and Game Commission owes the public more than a stall &#8211; it owes an explanation.<\/p>\n<p>We remain committed to transparency, due process, and accountability in our campaign to legalize domestic ferrets in California. All responses, or lack thereof, will be documented publicly.<\/p>\n<p>For more information or to follow the ongoing effort, visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legalizeferrets.org\">https:\/\/www.legalizeferrets.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>MULTIMEDIA: <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Image link for media: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/25-0521-s2p-ferrets-records-300dpi.jpg\">https:\/\/www.Send2Press.com\/300dpi\/25-0521-s2p-ferrets-records-300dpi.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Image caption: While the months fly by, we\u2019re still waiting for answers. Our Public Records Act request to the California Fish and Game Commission has gone unanswered\u2014just like the last 35 years of silence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MEDIA ONLY CONTACT:<\/strong><br \/>\nPat Wright<br \/>\nLegalizeFerrets.org<br \/>\nCLIFFNotes@legalizeferrets.org<br \/>\n(619) 303-0645<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LA MESA, Calif., May 21, 2025 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) &#8212; On February 12, 2025, a formal Public Records Act (PRA) request was submitted to the California Fish and Game Commission seeking documentation to justify the classification of domestic ferrets as &#8220;not normally domesticated in California&#8221; by LegalizeFerrets.org. The request specifically asked for any scientific studies, internal memos, environmental risk assessments, or correspondence used to uphold the ongoing prohibition of domestic ferrets under Title 14, Section 671 of the California Code of Regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5042,"featured_media":126353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[974,12804,597,10,48,25,78],"tags":[20358,3629],"class_list":["post-126354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets-and-zoos","category-ap","category-ballots-news","category-california-news","category-government-news","category-legal-and-law-news","category-san-diego-news","tag-california-fish-and-game-commission","tag-legalize-domestic-ferrets","has-post-title","has-post-date","no-post-category","no-post-tag","no-post-comment","has-post-author"],"acf":[],"views":3915,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126354"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126358,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126354\/revisions\/126358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.send2press.com\/wire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}