Mary wrote:
>I'm not saying yay or nay necessarily on the broader issue but In response
>to Julie's feelings below; there are worse things than death, even a death
>of thirst and  starvation:
>Like living in a filthy cage for years slowly dying and finally succumbing
>of starvation, thirst and disease after years of misery.  I mean face it -
>whats the point of putting them through all that?
 
Have you been to that ferret farm and seen what it's really like?  If not,
how do you know what it's like there?  I'll admit, I've never been there.
I know several people who *have* been on the farm however, and who went in
bound and determined to "get that evil ferret farm shut down" and they've
ALL walked out praising this particular breeder for his clean facilities
and the good health of all his animals.
 
Personally, I don't know how I'd deal with large numbers of ferrets being
kept in a small cage so they can be bred.  I know that their cages are
cleaned on a regular basis (I believe it's twice a day) they are fed on a
high quality diet, and their food is totally changed at least once daily.
I have seen and handled some of their breeding animals (note: as breeding
animals they are not handled often, and I have never seen such large,
healthy, and FRIENDLY ferrets in my life.  In fact, I have photos with me
of one of Bruces breeding ferrets which I have put on CD - anyone
interested in receiving said photos is welcome to see just how 'abused'
the ferret concerned looks.
 
I may not appreciate what Bruce does, he's a breeder.  It's his livelyhood.
He makes money from it, and sees his ferrets as a commodity rather than as
the pets we regard them as.  He does have a few ferrets as pets, and keeps
them in his house with his family.  However, I do appreciate that at least
he does look after them well he breeds for healthy animals, and his animals
are amongst the best specimens of ferrethood I have ever seen - they
surpass my own ferrets by leaps and bounds.  If people think my guys are
gorgeous, they haven't yet seen what Bruce has.  (It's kinda embarrassing
to admit it, but I don't have the most gorgeous ferrets in the world, just
in my town <G>)
 
What this release has done to New Zealand ferret owners is undermine what
ferret owners have been trying to do for *years* - the NZ government has
been fighting to ban ferrets as pets for several years, the only thing
stopped them has been the few people who have been willing to step forward
and say 'hey, the numbers we have are so low they could never have any
impact on the feral ferret population anyway' - the banning of ferrets as
pets has never been so close as it has been in the past year, and this may
well be the straw that breaks the camels back.  My own ferrets have already
been forced to stay out of their favoured outdoor run area because of the
anti-ferret environment in my area.  I've personally come very close to
just dumping working with my family and moving out of the country all
together.  My family is already looking at moving out of the house, one of
the reasons being that the ferrets are no longer safe where we currently
live.  The release by these *IDIOTS* will kill off hundreds of innocent
ferrets, possibly mean an impact on the local environment for those few who
survive for the next few weeks/months etc (it's doubtful any will survive
longer than that - if they even make it that long) it will definitely mean
the government will once more turn it's beady eye on the ferret issue and
will possibly mean the total banning of ferrets in New Zealand within the
next few years.  I personally see nothing good from any of it, and if the
people who did it are found, I sincerely hope they are given prison
sentences for breaking and entering, malicious michief, willful damage to
property, theft, cruelty to animals and whatever else Bruce's lawyers can
come up with.  I can only hope that Bruce has extra copies of his breeding
records so that he isn't forced with the decision of what to do with the
rest of his ferrets.
 
>The Wash DC Humane Society's response was interesting.  I think they are
>right that ferrets are easily neglected and abused.  I think there are a
>lot of neglected ferrets in basements, garages and shed's out there.
 
If everyone thought like the WA DC Humane Society, it would be illegal to
keep any animals and also illegal to have children.
 
There will be abuse/neglect with any type of animal, be it ferret, cat,
dog, horse, or *child* (including children in the general group so as to
make a point here)  The DC Humane Society evidently doesn't want ferrets,
and it's found an excuse which is pretty hard to complain about.
Personally, I'd rather just punish the twits who do the abuse/neglect,
rather than punish everyone and not allow anyone to have ferrets at all.
 
Sam
[Posted in FML issue 3128]