i just wanted to comment about a post by Monica, who made comment about
European ferrets and the fact that they seem to live longer than thier
American cousins.
 
this is a subject that has crossed my mind more than once.  it scares me
sometimes when i read on the FML all these horror stories about Adrenal,
Insulinoma and ADV to mention just a few diseases that ferrets get.  i am
not so nieve to think that British ferrets dont get sick and dont die, but
i just dont think that these sort of ferret illnesses are nearly so much
of a problem over here as they are in America.
 
i think that there must be a link between farming of ferrets and the
illnesses that seem to be spreading through your country and your ferret
population.  sure there are fans of marshall farms and i am sure that many
people get there furr kids from pet stores supplied by MF and have no
problems, but there are also many people who have issues with MF and the
quality of the ferrets that they seem to breed.
 
comment was made a few days ago about fraudulant acts being practiced if
minimum age restrictions are being broken by MF.  well i am no lawyer,
but a contract is a contract and if MF are selling ferrets that are under
age, why are YOU not doing something about it .  there are thousands on
the FML, so get together on this and make things happen, make a stink
about this and WE can make a sizable dent in the massive profits of a
company that is making money from breeding ferrets.  i can assure you that
if this were brought to my attention in the UK i would have a few things
to say about it, what i could do about MF from over here is debatable
because MF dont import to the UK to the best of my knowledge, so i
strongly beleave that any comment made by myself would be quickly swept
under the carpet.
 
please feel free to reply at length to me personally or on the FML if you
like or dis-like my comment.  i dont wish to rub any body up the wrong
way, but i honestly believe that a health issue brought about by over
breeding or under age selling is a problem that is only going to increase
if nothing is done about it.
 
mark my words, if ADV and other illnesses get more and more wide spread
soon enough MF will be putting a clause into every contract that they
undertake to the effect that they cant guarentee that thier ferrets are
without any pre-existing illnesses.  imagine if, god forbid, MF got
contaminated with ADV.  what would that do for their business, and
subsequantly their profits.  do you think they would euthanise all of
their breeding adults and saleable ferrets?  i personally very much
doubt it.
 
i hope that if i am over-simplifying this issue, somebody correct me if
i am.
 
i hope to hear from anybody who has any comments to make.
 
Take care
Alan, Rolo & Rodney.
[Posted in FML issue 3735]