California Fish and Game Commission Leaves Ferret Petition Off Final Agenda Before Critical Court Hearing

LA MESA, Calif. -- The California Fish and Game Commission has released its final agenda for the August 12-13 meeting in Sacramento, and once again Petition 2025-003 - seeking to legalize domestic ferrets as pets in California - is not on the agenda. This meeting represents the Commission's last regularly scheduled public opportunity to consider the petition before "Wright v. California Fish and Game Commission et al." is heard in Sacramento County Superior Court on October 2, 2026, Legalize Ferrets announced today.

The petition was formally accepted in June 2025 for "further consideration." In the eighteen months since, the Commission has issued no written determination, no public evaluation, and no vote. While the August agenda includes open discussion of numerous marine and wildlife petitions, domestic ferret legalization appears only in closed session under "litigation updates."

"For years, ferret supporters have tried to work within the system," said Pat Wright, petitioner and founder of LegalizeFerrets.org. "When the Commission said more scientific work was needed, we commissioned an independent preliminary report at our own expense. We invested more than $16,000 in scientific research because we believed that if we answered their concerns, the petition would receive a fair public evaluation."

"We followed every rule, submitted hundreds of pages of peer-reviewed evidence, responded to agency requests, and waited through meeting after meeting. The August agenda tells us that despite all of those efforts, the Commission's final scheduled meeting before the court hearing will pass without publicly considering the petition."

California remains one of only two states prohibiting domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) ownership. Scientific literature and consensus from federal agencies and veterinary organizations worldwide confirm that ferrets have been domesticated for thousands of years and pose no unique agricultural or environmental threat compared to standard household pets.

The pending Writ of Mandate does not ask the court to legalize ferrets. Instead, it seeks to compel the Commission and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to fulfill their statutory duties, address outstanding Public Records Act requests, and issue a definitive, transparent decision.

"The California Administrative Procedure Act exists to ensure that citizens have a meaningful opportunity to petition state agencies and receive a reasoned response," Wright said. "If agencies can formally accept a petition and then bury it indefinitely, the public's statutory right to petition its government becomes meaningless. Since the Commission refuses to hold a transparent dialogue at the table, we look forward to presenting our case before the court."

If the court upholds the Commission's ability to accept a petition, use that acceptance to block a future lawsuit, and then simply never rule on it, the precedent will reach far beyond ferrets. It would give every California agency a roadmap for avoiding public accountability: accept a petition to stop judicial review, bury it indefinitely, and never issue a decision. That outcome would effectively nullify the public's right to petition its government under the Administrative Procedure Act.

When the Commission gavels into session on August 12, it will begin what is scheduled to be its final public meeting before the October 2 hearing. For supporters of Petition 2025-003, it is also the final chapter of an administrative process they entered in good faith with the expectation that it would ultimately produce a public decision.

Learn more about LegalizeFerrets.org at: https://www.legalizeferrets.org/

Related link: https://www.legalizeferrets.org/

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