The great Game and Fish Debacle

I have a friend who has a pet rabbit, well actually, it's her daughter's.  I mean, it's ok if it was her rabbit.  Adults are allowed to have pet rabbits, right?  Oh man am I going down a rabbit trail here! Back to the story...

Anyway, this is actually a really sad story for the rabbit, as well as the family.  The rabbit was killed by an animal while it was in it's outside cage.  My friend called the Department of Game, known Virginia as- VDGIF.  She thought it may be a weasel.  She was told by the VDGIF that Virginia did not have weasels.  It must be a ferret someone released that has went wild.  How do I know this information you ask?  Why Facebook, of course!  Anyway, she posted this on Facebook and, of course, everyone started weighing in on the matter.    One person wisely posted this link http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/?s=050041  to the VDGIF website.  Um, couldn't the idiot, oops sorry, the kind employee of the Commonwealth on the other end of the telephone line possibly  have searched the internet for maybe 5 seconds???  I also piped in, or as we call it on Facebook, "posted" that on page 49 of the Hunting and Trapping book, weasel is listed as an animal to trap.  By the way, for those of you wondering because I know you are, the weasel's trapping season is December 1- February 29.  After further discussions via Facebook, the family discovered that the animal was most likely a mink.

Mink

Weasel

 









So, what is my point?  Number one- Facebook is indeed good for something!  Number two- the VDGIF needs to work on customer service and education of employees.  It's really sad when an employee of the game department says something so ignorant.  They should be the go-to place for information on wildlife.  In this instance, and unfortunately as well as many others, they are a laughing stock.