For all the effort New York City has squandered on ferrets — studying and then banning them in 1999 and now studying and possibly legalizing them again — officials have very little to show for it.
In the 15 years since ferrets became health-code outlaws, only two have ever been seized by the city, officials conceded Thursday — leading advocates to wonder why the law was ever even enacted.
“We do not do routine inspections for ferrets, and we get very few complaints,” a Department of Health spokeswoman said.
“It’s just a ridiculous law,” said David Guthartz, who heads the New York Ferret’s Rights Advocacy group.
Guthartz fears the ferret red tape will only grow now that the de Blasio administration is considering a system of vaccination-monitoring permits in exchange for decriminalizing the critters.
“It’s just ridiculous on every level possible,” said Guthartz, whose call to Rudy Giuliani’s weekly radio show back in 1999 prompted the then-mayor’s legendary rant about how the ferret lover should “consult a psychologist” about “how you are devoting your life to weasels.”
But now — with ferret fanciers sniffing victory while horse -carriage drivers blast de Blasio for hugging the furry, sharp-toothed beasts while seeking to ban their tourist-favorite steeds — even Giuliani is saying enough already.
“Maybe we should be thinking more about the girls in Nigeria than the ferrets,” the former mayor griped on Geraldo Rivera’s radio show Thursday.
Health officials would release few details of the city’s two ferret confiscations. Both were taken from their owners in 2012, with one ratted out in Brooklyn Heights out of vengeance by a feuding neighbor. The other was discovered by accident when health officials investigated a Bronx home following a dog-bite report.
Neither ferret was seized for biting or stinking — the two most feared weasel woes cited by ferret foes including Giuliani, who instituted the ban in ’99.