It's a Ferret Life

Ottawa bus ruling: The ferret lacks merit

	Frances Woodard says she feels less stress in the presence of Gyno, her pet ferret. Chris Mikula, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA -- A disgruntled transit rider is fighting to have her pet ferret's bus pass reinstated.

Frances Woodard, 54, suffers from agoraphobia, anxiety and panic attacks that make it difficult for her to go out in public -- unless she's with her three-year-old albino ferret, Gyno (pronounced Gino).

But OC Transpo, Ottawa's public transit authority, took Gyno's pass away in April.

"He grounds me. It's like he senses I'm going into a panic, and the petting and stroking calms me down. It gives me something to focus on other than the panic," she said.

Last fall, Woodard said, she bought the proper pass to allow her to take a ferret on public transit as a working animal. She still has the plastic transit pass bearing a picture of her holding up her ferret next to a green box that reads "Assist -- Customer entitled to a service animal."

"It gave me such a change. A feeling of freedom," she says of the time she was allowed to take Gyno on the bus.

However, for reasons she says still haven't been fully articulated to her, the pass was taken away.

Vincent Patterson, OC Transpo's manager of performance, said he could not comment on Woodard's case specifically.

However, he said, sometimes assistance cards are "mistakenly issued." He also stressed the need to have service animals "trained and certified by a recognized organization."