Someone wrote to me about a site with two ferret shelters nearby and two
PETsMART stores.  I replied:
 
>A few days ago there was a phone number given for shelters to REGISTER
>with PETsMART and then PETsMART says that it stops selling the animals
>and instead has a once a month adoption day which the shelters
>participate in.
>
>Have they contacted that office at PETsMART?   It's the only way they
>would know.
>
>This sounds like an EXCELLENT test area to see if that PETsMART promise
>is a real one or not: to get the shelters on that PETsMARET list and
>then see if they stop selling ferrets there as a response.
 
*****COULD THE PERSON WHO POSTED THAT NUMBER WHICH SHELTERS NEED TO CALL
AT PETSMART, PLEASE, REPOST IT?*****
 
There is nothing quite like seeing if a promise holds up on testing, is
there?  It IS the only way to know.
 
Like I said:
>Now, I am kind of inclined to believe promises when I see them pan out
>(having been burned before) but if they really do this and shelters take
>advantage of the adoption connections this could wind up working out
>better than what is usually seen as long as the volumes of ferrets sold
>is not large and as long as buyers are first helped to understand the
>needs of ferrets and encouraged not to buy when the people can't meet
>those needs (which also means training employees well).  If the words
>are only words then that is a different matter, of course.
---
 
Does anyone in Europe have a copy of the upcoming (in January) size
measurements and particulars for the EU ferret farm standards?  I have
been forwarded some, but not a document to verify them.  The ones I was
sent have most being smaller than 2 feet square for a cage which has TWO
nest boxes.  With two nest boxes in the regs that leaves the impression
that these may be communal cages, so I'd also like to see if these are
communal cages.  Anyone have a website?
 
Notice that if you compare the photos PETA (which I take with a boulder
of salt) showed of cages in MF (See past FMLs in the Archive and also
see posts on mismatches and show which indicate that some of the photos
simply are not what they are said to be.) to the upcoming EU standards
you will notice that the cage sizes and conditions in the MF photos are
better than what I was given for the upcoming EU standards.  So -- and
this is my point -- what were presented by PETA as being from MF and
therefore the worst case scenario possible there -- appear to be better
than the improvements to be made in the new EU standards -- IF what was
given to me are the correct new standards.
 
Remember, too, that U.S. ferret farms either have a vet do the kit
surgeries or have TRAINED techs in sanitary (and inspected) facilities
WITH A VET PRESENT (according to the refs I could find which could be
verified -- i.e. not just rumors).  The equipment used is medical
equipment.  According to people I personally have chosen to trust (and
you may differ from me) their translations of the media accounts of the
angora farm conviction involved UNtrained personnel, no vet, and
Unsanitary conditions.  There is also a rumor going around (Use a larger
grain of salt until it can be verified or disproven, please) on the
equipment used and let's just say that it is a NONmedical thing that is
typically used for jewelry repairs, and some electronics work.
 
I, too, have read copies of several letters which multiple people said
that they received from ST which blatantly said that he himself would gas
the ferrets if he doesn't get a buyer.
 
For us across the pond  *** no matter who we are ***  this stuff is all
very new information to be dissected, verified, mulled over, and then
reacted to.  It is very troubling, however, esp.  taken in conjunction
with what the humane group and its vet have said in relation to the
current bird case.
 
What LITTLE I have read (and still want to verify) of the upcoming EU
standards involves what read to be FAIR requirements which provide the
basics for health, and nothing at all outlandish, the sorts of things one
would hope were already being done (or done better than) but apparently
weren't.  That's if the standards forwarded to me are accurate.
[Posted in FML issue 4704]