**Credit: Story taken from Kodos.Net as they described the story best. This happened on May 2, 1997 - June 12th, 1997.


There was nothing special about Kodo, he wasn't a 'show quality' ferret, he wasn't specially talented in any way, he was plain and simple our children's pet ferret who lived in a cage with twelve other ferrets. Fate, however, stepped in and changed everything.

Let's start at the beginning. Kodo was given to us, by Debbi Miller, at the tender age of about 12 weeks. He was a 'bulldog' ferret which, for those who aren't 'ferret knowledgeable' means he had a short heavy body. He also had very large, expressive eyes.

This little guy, when loose from the confines of his cage, would follow the kids around like a little puppy. Always looking for someone to play with and someone to pick him up and spoil him. He would climb up into your lap and just cuddle and snooze. He was a 'people' ferret.

Kathy and I were in the process of trying to help ferrets out in Bay County, Mi. by contacting various animal control centers in our area and leaving ferret info etc. with them in the hopes of keeping them from being euthanised simply because their owners didn't want them anymore. Upon contacting Bay County Animal Control the director there, Karen Burns, asked us if we would join with them to do an animal awareness show at a mall in Bay City. We jumped at the chance to help educate people into the proper care of ferrets and their needs.

We took all thirteen of our ferrets to the show and things were going nicely. Kathy put on a couple demonstrations in front of sizeable groups of people explaining many aspects of the "typical" ferret and we had hundreds of people stopping by our booth asking questions and watching the ferrets play.

One older gentleman (who's name won't be used here by his request) stopped by the booth as I was holding Kodo (who was sleeping) in my arms. We had a short discussion of ferrets in which he explained how his family used them for rabbit hunting around the turn of the century. Toward the end of the conversation he asked if he could pet Kodo and I agreed. This is where the problem started. This gentleman reached up to pet Kodo and in so doing either struck his hand on the edge of the table or scraped it on one of Kodo's K-9 teeth. Either way there was a scratch on his knuckle and Kodo never moved. He laughed the incident off, talked with me a couple more minutes and then proceeded on down the concourse looking at other exhibits.

About 30 minutes later, as he and his wife were observing the Animal Control exhibit which had some rather graphic pictures of results of dog attacks on children, he made a side remark to his wife that he was glad his 'ferret bite' wasn't that bad. Karen Burns, director of animal control, overheard this comment and jumped into action. She filled out an animal bite report form which this gentleman refused to sign, he also insisted the incident was nothing and that he didn't want to file any type of complaint, form, or report, but Mrs. Burns took it upon herself to file them anyhow.

I know this to be factual as when Mrs. Burns appeared at our exhibit with an animal carrier in hand, this gentleman was with her and stepped in front of her explaining why she was there and that he wanted "no part of this" that he hadn't and wouldn't sign anything and hadn't filed any report. This was all on Karen Burns' own actions.

Mrs. Burns told the gentleman to step aside as the matter was out of his hands and the 'law' was clear on what actions she must follow. At this point she insisted that I "either hand over the ferret that bit him or she would confiscate all the ferrets in attendance".

I had very little choice. Here stood an Animal Control officer in full uniform, nightstick, gun etc. demanding that I surrender one ferret or she would use her 'powers' to confiscate them all. At the very least, that was the implication she impressed upon all of us there.

I removed Kodo from the cage he was sleeping in and surrendered him. Thus the start of his demise.

Karen Burns seized possession of Kodo then and there. After the mall had closed that night I approached Mrs. Burns and requested that I see Kodo. She opened a compartment on her truck and removed the carrier containing Kodo. I was allowed to remove him from the carrier and cuddle him while talking with Mrs. Burns. In the course of this conversation I discovered that the 'policy' on ferrets dictated that they be euthanized and the head was to be sent to Lansing for rabies testing. I showed her his vaccination records (for both rabies and distemper) and explained that he was a house bound/cage bound animal. He had never been outside the house unless in a carrier or held in our arms and wasn't even allowed loose in the house unless interacting with our family members. I explained that there was NO WAY this little ferret could come in contact with any type of rabies carrier and that the whole thing was ridiculous. She stated simply that "policy is policy and I must follow it."

This was the last time I was to ever hold or even see Kodo. He was taken to solitary confinement immediately following this.

I explained to her that the Compendium of Animal Rabies Control had recently been revised and that each animal was entitled to an 'individual evaluation' as to species and the chance of coming in contact with rabies. She said that didn't matter, her policies stated the animal was to be euthanized and tested.

Now the lies and suppositions start!

I requested her boss' name which she stated she didn't have one. She was the only one who made the decisions and she MUST follow policy. Everyone has a boss, someone to account to who signs their paycheck. I discovered at this point that the County Manager was hers and the campaign to save Kodo's life started.

Kodo was executed by the State of Michigan on Thursday June 12th at approximately 1:00 PM EDT. The reason for this execution was that he might have rabies. Ferrets do not pass on the rabies virus as they die in less than 10 days if they are infected. Despite this, Michigan kept Kodo for 42 days and even though the victim did not want Kodo harmed at all, they elected to kill Kodo anyway.

Since 1994, Michigan has killed over 211 ferrets for rabies testing and none have had rabies after testing. The Associated Press called Robert Jacobs, owner and friend of Kodo, Friday June 13th around 4:00 PM about the results of Kodo's Rabies Test.

Kodo tested negative for rabies!






BACK TO MAIN PAGE