New York City Department of Health Bans Ferrets

On June 29th, 1999, the New York City Board of Health voted unanimously at its quarterly meeting to establish a list of animals to prohibit as pets in New York City. The list voted on includes ferrets which are now banned as pets in New York City's five boroughs under New York City Health Code Section 161.01. Although the Department of Health is not actively seeking out ferret owners, ferrets found in New York City's five boroughs may be confiscated and turned over to the Center for Animal Control.

For many years, the New York City Board of Health has maintained that "Dangerous wild animals naturally inclined to do harm" were prohibited in New York City's five boroughs. The Board of Health also maintained that ferrets fell into that category of "Dangerous wild animals..." However, since ferrets are domesticated -not wild, and since they are neither dangerous nor naturally inclined to do harm, the ban -worded as such- did not apply to ferrets.

Ferrets are legal in New York State, and although it is illegal to sell ferrets in NYC, there was no written law anywhere prohibiting their possession inside of New York City. Since the NYC Department of Health was unable to enforce the "Dangerous wild animal..." ban as it applied to ferrets, the Board of Health decided to amend the health code to include a specific list of animals of their own choosing to ban in New York City. Ferrets are included in that list.

On June 3rd 1999, prior to instituting the ban, the DOH held a public hearing during which numerous people spoke in favor of removing ferrets from the proposed list of banned animals including the ASPCA, the Humane Society, vets from the Animal Medical Center, and a New York City Council Member. Not one person at the hearing spoke against ferrets. The Department of Health decided to ignore the testimony presented at the hearing (which, by the way, no members of the Board of Health actually attended!) and to rely instead on the written testimony of a "Star Witness" -an anonymous vet from New Hampshire. The testimony of that vet was later obtained through the Freedom of Information Law, and was found to be full of gross inaccuracies and misinformation (see below). Regardless, on June 29th 1999, the New York City Board of Health voted and unanimously approved the addition of the list of banned animals (which includes ferrets) to DOH Health Code Section 161.01.