I don't believe things have been blown out of proportion with not
wanting Petsmart to sell ferrets.  I do believe we need to have a supply
of ferrets or very few people could own them.  Neither would I oppose
Petsmart selling them in areas where there are no other large chain
stores selling them.  I don't believe we should have special permits or
make it difficult to own ferrets.  It would be useless to try to shut
down the big ferret farms.  These are not solutions
 
The obvious thing, more so than the other animals, ferrets are a cute
and appealing item but a headache to many pet owners after they get them
home.  It is NOT just old ferrets that are adopted from shelters, I have
had them in as young as 9 weeks old and many 3 or 4 months old.
 
AGAIN if Petsmart was selling them first, I would oppose Petco because of
the NUMBERS.  Have you noticed, neither store sells puppies and kittens
WHY.  Because of the same thing.  Ma & Pa stores still do, fleamarkets
do, newspapers have ads.  But the chains do not do it because of the
animal rights group working hard to keep impulse buyers out of it and
still there are tons of animals being put to sleep across the nation -
how much more staggering it would be if these chains sold them.  The
rescue groups here in the Dallas/FT Worth area did an actual inventory in
the month of June - they took in just over 12,000 animals and put down
just over 8,000 (can give you exact #'s if you care to see them)   THese
are pure bred rare breeds to cute little mixes, kittens and puppies never
having a chance in life.
 
As much as is said against Marshal Farms, I feel they help make ferrets
available, we don't want to cut off the supply, we want to cut down the
OVER supply.  That's all.  There is plenty of profit in the food and
equipment for ferrets without making a few dollars on the sale of ferrets
itself.  It is not going to break the store NOT to sell ferrets anymore
than it broke them NOT to sell puppies and kittens.
 
Yes they agreed to not sell them where shelters are.  We already are
holding educational tables at many of the Petsmart stores in Dallas.
I can't say it has caused more adoptions but I think it might have
discouraged some buyers from getting involved and then finding they don't
want the responsibility of ownership.  I can only hope.  But we don't
have the volunteers to put a table in every store in this metroplex to
keep the store from selling ferrets or the buyer from giving it a try
 
If another large chain store starts purchasing ferrets, Marshal Farms
will step up its breeding.  If you shut down Marshall Farms, then you do
get into unscupulous breedings and conditions.  If there is no market for
the "product" Marshal Farms or anyone else is not going to keep producing
more.  It is the store buying the ferrets that causes the "manufacturer"
to speed up production or slow it down.  MF isn't going to turn down
orders if they get demands for them and if Petsmart starts handling
ferrets, there is your demand to the producer
 
More education out there will help those who have ferrets and want them.
It is not going to make those who buy them decide to keep them once they
decided cuteness isn't everything.  There will be more abandoned ferrets
because the stores will not take them back.  Shelters can't handle their
numbers now.  Is it okay to just kill off those who might have gone to
the wrong home.  Is that the solution so Petsmart can get some of the
profit they think Petco is getting?  You don't see Petco doubling up on
their numbers of kits - they don't have the number of ferrets in their
stores they do for rats, mice, hamsters and parakeets.  THere is NOT that
big of a market for them - but there can be a demand created.  True, not
all store bought ferrets are abandoned but a lot of ferrets are going to
die because of this increase
 
You can either help keep this problem from happening or you can drift
with the tide and say later.  OH what ashame, like people do with the
puppies and kittens and dogs and cats at the local animal controls.  Not
all ferrets are babied and cuddled and loved like those belonging to
people reading this email - many are just locked up and shoved in some
corner, garage or abandoned room and/or then taken to the animal controls
or a shelter if they find one or turned loose.  THis is before Petsmart
starts supplying them.  How can anyone think it will get better once they
are in the Petsmart stores!
 
Millie and her Exploding Drinking it up Cleaningcrew
Ferret Lovers Club of Texas
[Posted in FML issue 4706]