Boy, I tried, but I just couldn't let this one go by....
 
> //Answer// Yep.  Some folks who've been on the ferret
>"merry-go-round" for a long time and have had the rotten luck to have
>paid thousands of dollars to fatten the pockets of veterinarians
>(curative surgery excisions to whack away at cancers) in the mostly
>hopeless and futile effort to "cure" their beloved ferret, are at last
>questioning the "good sense" of buying a commercial grade ferret.
 
Hold on there.  I thought veterinarians were our friends?  Let's not
demonize them, hey?
 
Furthermore, if, as you imply, we should end research, then how are we to
ever find true cures for the diseases that plague our ferret friends?
 
> //Answer// Well, all that I believe is not necessarily factual.  I
>can't prove the 70/30 percent cancer rate in commercial ferrets -
>nobody can do that today, since data collection is fragmentary at best.
 
Well spoken.  And given that fact this claim is, in the first place, pure
conjecture and potentially dangerous misinformation.  As such it has no
place in a careful argument.
 
> //Answer// Indeed that is true.  These ferrets are bred to be as
>uniform as possible (heavily inbred) and their life expectancy is
 
Um, inbreeding produces genetic specificity, localized mutation, and
high defect rates from recessive recombination.  Large breeding pools
encourage uniformity.  Also, note that many breeders shoot for diversity
and deliberate mutation (albino, bulldog, blaze, angora...) in preference
to the "uniform" polecat markings.
 
> //Answer// The tragic difference of not being smart enough to buy
>my ferret from a private, knowledgable ferret breeder rather than
>from the pet store or even a ferret shelter.
 
Ah, so now shelters are in bed with the enemy too.  Good to know.
 
Finally, "query" is spelled with one "r", and "question" is a far more
suitable word for this usage anyway.
 
So what's my point?  It is this: the message is well-intended, but this
presentation smacks far too much of sensationalism.  If you want to win
converts to your cause, you can do so best by presenting well-reasoned
arguments in a calm, neutral tone.  Don't let emotion rule your
arguments.  Present references for your "facts".  Don't state claims
without the data to back them up.  And finally, spelling and word choice
make a huge difference, even if subconscious, in how well your message
is received.  (No offense Sukie - we all know how tired you are! ;-))
 
It comes down to this: no matter how true or false any of these
statements are, the ferret-buying public at large remain entirely unaware
of the issues.  They remain unaware of the existence of most shelters and
nearly all breeders.  They have no resources readily available to help
them tell a reputable store/shelter/breeder from your average huckster.
To many of them, a ferret is "just an animal" to be enjoyed or discarded
at will.  Until someone comes up with a solution to the problem of
educating the public at large, and making them actually care about
animals, nothing will change.  You can rant and rave about it on the FML
all you want, but nothing will change.  You must remember that we are a
very small minority of all of the ferret- owning people in the world.
The knowledge about our ferret companions here is exceptional, as is our
access to the internet.  Many ferret owners have neither.
 
If the general public knew the issues and felt as we do (on average) on
this list, many stores and breeders would not be able to profit from
selling animals and would cease.  The reality is, however, that both will
go on happily selling animals and making a profit at it because they sell
to the uninformed masses, not to us.
 
Roger & the Fibonacci Ferts
[Posted in FML issue 3858]