Scott DeMuth pleads guilty to setting free the ferrets

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Ferrets: some people go to jail for them

​Scott DeMuth, the Minneapolis man accused of breaking into a ferret farm in Howard Lake, Minnesota, in 2006 and setting the little weasel-like animals free, pleaded guilty late yesterday.

In return, the 23-year-old DeMuth, a member of the Minneapolis-based group EWOK!--Earth Warriors are OK!--avoids a federal animal enterprise terrorism trial that would have started today. He faces up to six months in prison.

It's a good deal for DeMuth: The charges are misdemeanor rather than felony. DeMuth pleaded guilty only to conspiring to disrupt and cause damage to Lakeside Ferrets Inc. in Howard Lake. The deal does not include accusations against him of being involved in a break-in at a University of Iowa animal lab where more than 300 rats and mice were set free. In the past DeMuth has denied any involvement in either incident.

DuMuth has gotten a lot of local love from animal rights activists--and also from the zombies. And we have to say, he's not alone in his ferret love. Whole groups of people dedicate their lives to defending ferrets--like the guy Rudy Giuliani famously lambasted a few years back.

After Giuliani banned ferrets from New York City while he was mayor, David Guthartz, executive president of New York Ferrets' Rights Advocacy, called in to Giuliani's radio show to complain. Giuliani couldn't take it. 

"The excessive concern you have with ferrets is something you should examine with a therapist," Giuliani told Guthartz. "This excessive concern with little weasels is a sickness."

For your enjoyment, here's the rest of Giuliani's ferret rant: