I never did an answer to my question whether any of the shows have good
levels of muscle mass as part of their judging criteria.  Granted, some
ferrets are couch potatoes, but good amounts of muscle mass indicate that
a ferret is getting a lot of play and lot of room in which to play so it
could help guard against abusive situations if it were among the criteria
for judging -- points lost for poor muscle tone and poor muscle amount
levels.  An abuser can quickly bathe and ferret, clean ears, and clip
claws, but muscle mass takes time to build up -- weeks or months of a lot
of good, healthy play so that activity aspect can't be faked.
 
Do any shows require the participants to provide a year or more of vet
records on the animals being shown, or only proof of vaccination and ADV
tests?
 
Also, how many show organizations, shelters, and breeders have a care
level contract demanding medical care, sanitary conditions, and physical
and mental stimulation at home with those people who show, who adopt, or
who buy?  It could be that violations of such contracts could lend weight
to situations in which abusers are prosecuted as further useful evidence.
They wouldn't have much weight otherwise but taken in conjunction with
documentation of abusive conditions they may help further indicate an
intention to defraud and a failure to honor obligations.
 
Point one: never assume that someone else is carrying the load with
rescues; there are those who say that they will make donations or have
made donations who simply never do so.  They say it for the attention,
so don't assume that places have received what has been mentioned and do
check to see what needs they still have in terms of vets bills, or use
someone who can cover those bases for you like SOS can by donating to
that group.
 
Point two: SOS gives to the vets and test suppliers so you know how the
money is being used.  Plus, contributions to the SOS are tax deductible.
http://www.supportourshelters.org
 
I was glad to learn that LIFE also banned the abuser.  Hopefully, they
have some help for the court case against her, too.  Oh, I just saw
Anne's post.  I hope that there winds up being info -- that one of the
main people has data handy to present.  I know how hard it can be to
recall details long after the fact when there are so many things going
on in life and so many people with whom to interact.  I guess this says
that written records of serious actions such as bans need to be kept in
files long term.
 
There have been multiple people who have supplied some excellent
additions to the "Loose Lips Sink Kits" guidelines for when legal
seizures happen.  A number of additional points need to be added and
another member of the team is editing as her time allows.  The goal is to
help such efforts progress as effectively as possible and be successfully
prosecuted so that serious abusers will realize that by abusing ferrets
they place themselves in real jeopardy of incurring high fines, legal
prohibitions, and maybe even jail time rather than merely in the way of
getting a slap on the wrist.  Having as strong as possible a legal
argument without having evidence thrown out of court also may in some
states permit those shelters or contributing groups like SOS to receive
an order against abusers to pay back some of the costs incurred.  That
isn't the same as actually being paid and they may need to eventually
have the abuser's wages garnished if possible, but sometimes it may help.
 
I think that Bill is right that we need to try more to stop these
situations before they start or soon after they begin and stop
repetitions.  Obviously, this is not at all easy.  Take for instance,
that other set of abusers mentioned in a recent FML who need to be
reported (along with the phone call and the AC officer's relationship)
to appropriate state agencies and to the administrators (mayor, etc.) of
that community, perhaps even to the media for an undercover report of
collusion between a set of abusers and an AC officer -- someone who is
therefore defrauding taxpayers and a governmental agency by failing to
do his job while accepting his pay.  (There is often somewhere a hungry
young reporter just looking for the sort of piece which makes people
sit up and take notice: abuse works often enough, and defrauding the
taxpayers works often enough so since this situation has both...).
Anyway, it isn't easy but it is worthwhile.
 
Still, if shows do their best to think about SUBTLE signs of possible
abuse and weigh their judging criteria based on those; if shows try to
find creative ways to investigate complaints; if people do visit and
perhaps even ask to see the vet records of those to whom they are selling
or from whom they are buying; if people look for possible indicators of
poor stimulation and crowded conditions such as repetitive behavior, lack
of good muscle mass and tone, inability to understand play; and if we as
a community refuse to tolerate this and do work to have strong guidelines
for bringing such abusers under legal controls and punishment then it
should be possible to make a dent and then bit by bit increase the size
of that dent.
 
This is a good reminder that all too often blue ribbons say nothing
about health, longevity, or the living conditions of the ferrets, so if
acquiring a ferret who is not a rescue concentrate on what counts instead
of on ribbons received.  If people like this Maryland abuser can't make
money from it they will leave ferrets alone.
[Posted in FML issue 4228]