Yesterday this post appeared:
>From:    The Nelsons <[log in to unmask]>
>I have spent many hours working with teens and their lives.  This post
>doesn't seem to take into account that the teen was told by the parent
>to do something, (being grounded, I believe) and followed through
>with the punishment.  Now if he had done the opposite he would have
>been a "rebellious" teen.  Sounds like the guy can't win!
>No animal should have to die needlessly, but sometimes lessons are
>learned at the expense of others.  Not always pleasant, but part of life
>What was wrong with the parents that they didn't go back and pick up
>the parents. Many times the kids are products of the parents.
 
At the end of this post was part of my original post with my signature, but
it looked like it was all from me.  It wasn't.  The top portion was from
the Nelsons and the bottom part was quoted from my original post.
 
Anyway... to further explain my post.  Yes I took into account that the
teen was grounded.  But in doing so are you defending the fact that the
grounding included leaving the ferret at a strangers house instead of
being taken home where it belonged?  Since when did punishment of the teen
include the punishment of a ferret?  Makes absolutely no sense to me.
 
Are you saying that the punishment included not being able to take the
ferret home, well... that logic is beyond me.
 
Frankly, there are many unanswered questions here.  The basic situation
is this from what is gathered from the post: Teen took ferret to friend's
house to chill.  Everyone got bored with the ferret after a time of play
and the ferret was placed in the bathroom of the friend's house.
 
The teen made a decision to stay many hours (which was selfish, as he knew
he brought the ferret with him), the teen's mom got upset by how late her
son was out and came and got the boy leaving the ferret behind (no reason
given for this - remember, this ferret is the FAMILY pet, not just the
teen's) and then gets grounded for being out so late.  Ferret is not
retrieved at any point during the grounding and NO arrangements are made to
pick it up.  (As I asked earlier, why does the ferret get included in the
grounding when it was not the ferret that decided to stay out all night,
and that the ferret belonged to the whole family?) Ferret is later found
dead due to being abandoned by its family and left with people who were ill
equipped to deal with a ferret.
 
The ferret died because nothing was done in the meantime to ensure its
safety or to retrieve it.  When you say that sometimes lessons are learned
at the expense of others, you are essentially saying that common sense does
not even come into play here.  Once again I state that a LIFE was taken
here.  The teen gets his second chance to make more mistakes that are life
lessons.  The ferret gets no second chance and he was not even the one to
have made the mistake in the first place.
 
Bottom line is accountability.  Teens are as accountable for their actions
as adults are.  And yes, teens learn from their parents.  But where exactly
is the drawing line that says that it is not the fault of the teen and more
the fault of the parent?  This teen was old enough to use common sense -
he was far from being a very young child.  (Technically, he was a within
a year of being labeled an adult.)  There is no excuse for the parent.  My
heart is saddened by this loss but even more so when others try to defend
the actions taken.
 
Now before this gets all blown out of proportion and emotions run high,
let's get back to the basics here.  The teen was brave to take the chance
and post of his error.  By doing so, like many others, he has also given
the rest of us knowledge in which others can learn from.  This story like
so many others, are tragic and preventable.  We all end up learning
something from them, whether directly or by passing this on through
education.
 
But I will never condone a senseless act that results in the death of an
animal.  My heart wouldn't let me, and my ferrets would never forgive me.
 
God help me if I should ever do anything that resulted in the death of an
animal under my care.  It is on my mind all the time.  Every bag of garbage
that gets tossed is carefully screened so that the likelihood of throwing a
sleeping ferret out will never happen.  I never lift the couch up off the
floor without a second person around for fear of crushing a helpless
ferret.  I never block off a cupboard without first thoroughly checking to
see if a ferret snuck by me and would end up trapped.  I check each load of
laundry with a quick toss of my hand searching for a curious ferret for
fear that one could get caught in a load.  The list goes on and on but this
is what it means to be a responsible pet owner, and in this case, the
responsible ferret owner.
 
Luckily there are many shelters out there who are a wealth of information
on ferret behaviours.  They are also the place that can tell you all the
horror stories of why ferrets suffer and die needlessly all the time.
And, as common sense dictates, those interested in getting a ferret will
complete their research to see what they are getting themselves into before
taking the final leap.
 
Common sense has to come into play all the time.  The lives of all ferrets
DEPEND upon it.
 
The real
Betty and Her Blur O'Fur
For the love of ferrets...
[Posted in FML issue 3151]