Student Vows to Ferret Justice for ‘Little Buddy’

James Brown of Van Nuys was spared a jail sentence Monday for keeping a ferret in California. But the fate of his furry pet, Maynard, is still uncertain after a year of court proceedings.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Judge Kenneth Lee Chotiner dismissed a misdemeanor charge against Brown, who was cited in February, 1985, for illegally possessing a ferret. Chotiner ruled that Brown had been denied a speedy trail.

Could Have Been Jailed, Fined

The state Fish and Game code classifies the weasel-like creatures as wild animals, which cannot be kept without a permit. Brown, a 21-year-old film student from Oregon, would have faced up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted.

Now only Maynard’s future lies in the hands of the court.

Brown vows to fight for custody of his pet.

Maynard has been held at the Wildlife Waystation in Little Tujunga Canyon since his capture in Mission Hills on Feb. 20, 1985, when he got into a fight with some neighborhood dogs.

“Maynard is a real friend to me. He’s my little buddy,” said Brown, who has seen the animal only once in the past year--in court last week. The judge permitted him a brief visit in a conference room, where he was allowed to pet and cuddle the ferret.

“He’s as loyal as a dog and more fun than a cat,” Brown said. “I raised him from a baby. It hurts for me to know he is in a cage.”

Brown wants to take the animal to Oregon, where it’s legal to keep ferrets as pets. He said his mother would care for the animal there.

Brown said he can no longer afford the attorney’s fees or time off from work to fight to keep Maynard in his Van Nuys home.

“To mount a constitutional challenge of his right to have a ferret in California would bankrupt him,” Brown’s attorney, Jeffrey Villagran, said.

The city attorney’s office wants Maynard to stay at the Waystation so that he can be produced as evidence in future proceedings.

“We won’t be able to prove the case if we don’t have the animal,” Deputy City Atty. Kenneth Carrasco said.

Carrasco said his office will appeal Chotiner’s ruling largely to test certain legal issues involving court continuances. In dismissing the charge, Chotiner said that the prosecution had unnecessarily delayed the case by saying that a game warden was unavailable to testify when, in fact, he was.

But Brown said he is worried that his pet’s health is failing at the Waystation, which he has not been allowed to visit. Brown believes Maynard needs to be in a home environment. He wants to show that Maynard is a domesticated subspecies of ferret and thus deserves a home.

‘They Raise Havoc’

But Fish and Game Warden Lt. Donald Wilkins said a ferret is a ferret under state law, no matter what subspecies it may be, and it would be illegal to release Maynard to its owner.

“Even though they appear to be cute and cuddly, they raise havoc with our natural native species,” Wilkins said, explaining that ferrets can attack poultry, rabbits and are large enough to fight dogs.

In the meantime, Chotiner ordered that Maynard be given a larger, more comfortable cage and that he be transported by a fish and game warden in an air-conditioned car to a veterinarian’s office for a checkup.