[Pan_Yans Wife]

The U.S. government banned the sale of prairie dogs, prohibited the importation of African rodents and recommended smallpox shots Wednesday for people exposed to monkeypox, the exotic African disease that has spread from pet prairie dogs to humans.

From the first paragraph...

I am all for freedom, and I don't know if the government should ban what people own as pets, haven't studied the issue, much. However, if they are going to ban prarie dogs, then they should ban ferrets, next... icky little creatures.

[FairOpinion]

"prohibited the importation of African rodents "
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I didn't see this one. This makes sense, but considering that prairie dogs got the disease from an imported rat, I don't see why they would ban them, although prairie dogs indeed can spread disease, but so can rabbits.

While I wouldn't want to own a prairie dog, but I think banning prairie dogs as a result of an illness brought here by an imported pet doesn't make any sense. How do we know that some rabbits which were at the same store at the same time didn't catch it, or how about any cats and dogs they had?