William Killian <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>In that list you gave, the first two shouldn't be limited to shelters
>where the operator is also a breeder.
 
You are absolutely correct: these two items should apply to all ferret
shelters.  Here are the two points again, for those who don't want to
scan back through the previous FML:
 
  + each ferret in the shelter gets out for play time and attention every
    single day,
  + every litter pan is scooped every day and all food bowls and water
    bottles are checked each day and filled as needed,
 
>We have heard from people we respect on both sides unfortunately so we
>only feel right in speaking in these general terms.
 
That's only fair -- it's hard to form sound opinions from second hand
information.  I'm amazed that anyone would find conditions at this shelter
anything but deplorable, but perhaps they have only visited soon after a
cleaning day and not seen the piles of feces or experienced the eye burning
sensation when first walking into the shelter days after the weekly
cleaning routine, or seen a ferret die from infections caused by living
in an inadequately cleaned cage, or discovered a ferret that has been stuck
in twisted bedding for the past several days.
 
As I said in a previous post, I had nearly four years to witness first hand
what was going on, and I too was willing to overlook a lot of questionable
practices for the first few years, hoping things would change for the
better, but they only became worse.
 
It is important to emphasis that the breeding of ferrets at this shelter is
NOT what made this shelter bad -- it only exacerbated the already horrid
conditions.
 
Leonard Bottleman
[Posted in FML issue 3218]