I've been watching the PETA debate/PETA bashing over the past few days.
I absolutely agree that fanatacism in ANY form is wrong (anyone up for
political debate while we're at it?), and certainly PETA is fanatical
in their desperation to end animal abuse and cruelty.  In principle,
obviously, we agree with that particular aspect, but are simply
disinclined to support extremeism or untruths being used in a just
campaign (because when lies are used, they can be turned around and
discredit the entire movement).  But no to the reason for my Email ...
 
>I actively oppose PETA, not because they are against ferrets, or
>dislike the concept of domesticated animals ...
 
Up until several months ago, I ran a rescue down in the metropolitan
Phoenix area.  We specialized in Ferrets, Rats, Mice, Guinea Pigs ... and
the occasional rabbit, small iguana or bird.  We had a woman call from
out-of-state (WAAAAY out of state, East coast) who was interested in
adopting a guinea pig when she came out to visit her mother.  She had
looked at our website, thoroughly discussed the adoption with her family,
even preliminarily chosen who she wanted to adopt as a companion to their
present guinea pig.  When she contacted me, I told her we'd have to
discuss it, and that these determinations of suitability were made on
a case-by-case basis (hmm, kind of addresses part of the age of adopter
discussion!), but that I generally did NOT adopt to out-of-state folks.
Reasons?  Here's a couple:
(1)Animals are already stressed by going to a new environment, and don't
need long trips added to that stress (2) No way to do home visits before
or after adoption ... we had a manditory "trial period" of a year during
which we could call, or come by, to see how an adoptee was getting along.
I only did this in one case, and was glad I did ... the gal had divorced
and her new fella was a real ... well, we got Freddy back.
 
So the PETA woman showed up and brought her mother (who was ALSO a PETA
person ... oh lordy, a revolution about to ensue!).  They looked at the
guinea pigs, looked at the birds, the rats, the mice, the bunnies and the
guinea pigs.  THEN they saw the ferrets we had (only wo at the time).
They nudged each other and froze.  I froze.  Then they started grinning
madly and asked if they could hold one, never having had that opportunity
before.  Ten minutes later they wanted both a ferret AND a guinea pig.  I
disapproved the ferret adoption, because they could only take one and had
no other ferrets or ferret experience, and were'nt going to be around
long enough to do the month of weekends helping out in the ferret-room to
learn about them.  The daughter finally sighed, and went to get her
guinea pig, which "Mom-Peta" had by now fallen for, and insisted on
taking herself!  After watching for a while, I suggested that mom (local)
get the pig, despite it being an "impulse adoption" and daughter getting
one back in her hometown.  Yes, mom had guineas, too.
 
Now then ... after having written all this and probably gone into way
more detail than needed (well, except I did also touch on some adoption
criteria stuff) ... PETA people are, generally very passionate about
their crusade, but not ALL of them are fanatics.  Both the mom & daughter
thought SOME of the protests were way overdone, and would not participate
in them (made my husband happy ... he met them and had a nightmare image
of the mom naked in front of a furriers ... uwwwwwww!).  These two were
PETA, but NOT fanatics.  And they loved the ferrets and wanted to adopt,
AND planned to adopt in the future when they'd learned more about care
requirements.  We can't lump everyone together in an organization, even
if the orgaization has an "official stance" about something.  I don't
agree with everything done in this country, or by this country, but I'm
still an American.  BTW ... the guinea pig has an AMAZINGLY great home,
with several cages (in different rooms) and a free-range area in her
room!
 
Peri
[Posted in FML issue 4074]