I don't post often but I do read your posts every chance I get.  I'm
really saddened by some of the recent posts about ADV and the way you
treat and talk about the people that have ADV Positive Ferrets.
 
Let's take a moment and talk about the history of some of mankind's
medical problems.  How about the leprosy, polio, rubella, mengities and
now Aids.  These are dreadful illnesses that effected millions.  Yes
there was shunning of the ones that was ill.  Did this shunning help?
No!  It set the treatment and cures back by years.  It was only by
research that the cures were found.  Now we look back in shame at the
way we treated these ill ones.
 
ADV and other serious illnesses that ferrets can contact are devastating.
But were does the answer lie?  In bashing the ones that are effected or
through our moral support and fighting for research that will find a cure
for this terrible illness.  Yes great care must be taken to control the
spread of these illnesses until a cure is found.
 
But do we have to be small minded as mankind was in the past or can we
give our moral support and any help we can to the ones that are afflicted?
Lets support these ones and the shelters that are caring for these ill
ones.  Put your effort into helping to find a cure.  To morally support
the ones that are dealing with this first hand.
 
It takes a SMALL MINDED PERSON to criticize the ones that are hurting, but
an intelligent person to make a difference.
 
Jim and Marie Smith and the Fantastic 7 Ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 3824]