>Marguerite and Jen, please don't tell me that people don't abuse
>ferrets, animals, or even people because they are deaf.  They do.  Any
>audiologist, professional, or likewise deaf person on the FML can tell
>you this happens to people.  Because they are deaf.  They are open to
>ignorance from society whether it's purposeful or not.  Just trying to
>get by day to day in a hearing world or society can be a challenge.
>Shelter operators will also tell you, that a deaf ferret does have
>different challenges than a hearing ferret.  And, they are, open to abuse
>more than a hearing ferret.  Not commonly.  But it happens.  I shouldn't
>have to re-explain myself.  I did so quite eloquently in my original post
>and in quite a bit of detail of how an abusive situation can potentially
>be set up for the ferret (not commonly once again, but it does).
 
Believe me, I'm not saying that people don't or won't abuse their ferrets
(deaf or otherwise), or humans for that matter.  I am a nurse, and
unfortunately see abuse everyday.  That said, it was the generalized
statement that originally I was commenting on.  I live in Baltimore, and
would think that organized groups of advocates for ferrets would be doing
more in the area about educating people about ferrets as I stated in my
previous post.  However, these groups aren't doing all that I believe can
be done, as I mentioned, putting out informational handouts at these
stores for people to read for free who are interested in buying a ferret.
And asking the stores selling these creatures to hand them out to people
who are interested in ferrets, instead of giving them incorrect
information or no information at all, which I believe in itself is a set
up for the ferrets.  At least if people have info to read prior to
purchasing or adopting a ferret, they can learn more than what they may
have heard, and have a heads up as to what the new family pet is going to
require.
 
>Jen, I wanted to make sure that I understood your specific post.  Did
>you mean that you took some offense to the fact that stores tend to not
>realize let alone let on to customers that their ferrets are deaf, that
>they don't educate customers about ferrets enough (hearing or not), that
>ferrets are often returned or given up to shelters because they are deaf
>or misunderstood, etc?  You were agreeing with me, right?  Or am I the
>one not understanding your post and you were you not agreeing with me at
>all (and in fact was misunderstanding that we agree)?  I just wanted to
>be sure.  When you said you took offense to my statement, that generally
>is to be understood that you didn't agree with me at all, and even were
>agitated at my words.  Yet your whole post seemed to agree with me.
 
I just didn't agree with the generalized "deaf ferrets are subject to
abuse" when they MAY BE subject to abuse but are not always definitely
subject to it.  Most businesses aren't going to stop selling ferrets that
they know to be deaf, and they SOME most definitely aren't going to tell
people about ferrets that they know to be deaf, but the key to that is
educating the consumer prior to them buying, and I believe that one good
step towards that at least in my area would be to put out free info in
the small animal/ferret section of the store so that people can look at
that info (diseases, costs, nutritional requirements, training needs,
housing requirements) and decide if a ferret is really something that
they want to get into.
 
I didn't have that info prior to getting a ferret, as a matter of fact, i
read some things online, and then when I got my first ferret I bought a
couple of books, and luckily my ferret was willing to put up with me
trying to learn how to be a good ferret mom.  Now I have 7 that I love
dearly and defend against almost everyone I know who thinks ferrets
"stink" and "bite".
 
For example, we had a festival a few weeks ago in our town (Towsontown
Festival to those of you in the MD area), and we took our two oldest,
most well behaved ferrets with us.  Many people came up to us, had either
never seen a ferret, or had never been able to get close to one in
person, and we let them pet them, some people wanted to hold them, and
lots of children were interested in them.  Many people asked us tons of
questions because they had always wanted one, but had heard this, that or
the other, and never tried to find out more about them.  I answered their
questions honestly, how much they cost (and when that was asked, I told
them about adoption vs.  store, I told them vet costs, and about the
illnesses that they can develop later on), what they eat (or should eat),
I told them that they require a lot of attention and maintenance to be
healthy and good pets.  My husband and I took that opportunity to educate
some otherwise ignorant people.  And we had our share of people who saw
the furkids and said "Eww, Ugh, Ferrets...whatever they were going to say
about them".  But we didn't see anyone else walking around with theirs,
nor did we see any ferret organization out there trying to educate.
 
And there were those people who told us what they had done to their
ferrets that made me want to reach over and grab their necks and squeeze
for dear life, but I didn't want to do that in front of the furkids (now
tell me that they aren't our children?)
 
Anyway, I hope I have cleared up any confusion about my previous posts,
and that you understand where I am coming from now.
 
Jennifer
[Posted in FML issue 4886]