Hi, My name is Mary Sue.  You don't know me.  I hope this post isn't too
long.  I think it is worth the space.  I'm just a lurker here because I
have so little time to contribute in writing but thanks to so many of you
I've learned a lot over the years.  I hope I have been able to pass it on
at local pet stores when I visit the ferrets and see people checking them
out for the first time and asking questions or coming up with some really
scary ideas about these "rat-things" and wondering why the price for
"snake-food" is so ungodly high!  I've said and done whatever it took
to either set them straight or scare them away, if they were really so
stupid and cruel and set on trying the "fur-rats" on for size.  Thank God
for Prozac, or they might have ended up in the Boa Constrictor tank as
Thanksgiving "Rats" in the raw.  (Sorry...my anger and my sense of humor
get kind of mashed together in these situations.  I'm not dangerous...
really, unless I know it's necessary to save lives.  I'm sorry, I
digress.)
 
I've been disconnected from the happenings on the FML now for quite
awhile but am hoping that will change when I get some personal issues
ironed out.  In the meantime, I wanted to bring to your attention a
concern I have regarding the website http://www.gotpetsonline.com/
I only came across it tonight when I was "googling" for images of
raccoons online.  One of the sites it brought up through an image link
I followed was the aforementioned website, which at first looked
interesting, maybe even helpful, until I began to dig a little deeper.
I wanted to see under their Pet Classifieds listing, what kind of
conditions they placed on animals listed on their site, especially
ferrets.
 
I started first with the exotic pets listing, since I figured someone
was sure to think ferrets are an "exotic" since it has been a misnomer
in the past.  Well, I found one ad for a ferret for sale there.  I also
found listings of all kinds of other animals that I thought sounded
illegal, or uneducated and risky both for prospective owners and the poor
animals themselves (for example: grizzly bears sold as pets, Siberian
Tigers, other extremely exotic and many likely illegal pets or wild
animals (a number of them being sold from Cameroon, in what looks to be
a cheap, [actually free for sellers], pet-trafficking trade).  People
here in the US looking for pet Zebras, Giraffes, many wild cats, foxes,
unusual marsupials and South American animals......or how about bats,
monkeys, wolves....I don't want to go on.  It made me want to cry.  Then
I went to the small animal classification and typed in ferrets, and came
up with a bunch of listings of pet ferrets for sale.  My immediate
concern with these listings is that I don't know if any "educated" ferret
folks know anything about this site or listings and hope that those who
know "best" will go to this site and look at the listings, hopefully
offer truly EXCELLENT homes for these poor ferrets (and possibly other
animals as well) and approach the person(s) in charge of the website
with the right combination of knowledge, truth and tact so that adequate
information about the operations can be extracted and good information
can be offered.  I also think it would be wise for someone who actually
knows how to handle these things to check into the legality of the
advertisements and the animals for sale.
 
Since the last of my six ferrets had to be gently sent on his way to the
rainbow bridge a couple months ago, (I still can't even bring myself to
clean his condo), after untreatable adrenal disease and pancreatic cancer
began to cause him obvious discomfort, Ii's even harder now than ever to
see any animal (or human) suffering or in a bad situation like some of
these and not do something.  I so desperately want to adopt more ferrets
to fill the hole in my heart and the needs in their lives, but can't,
until I can once again afford to meet their needs, especially medically.
 
Is there anyone out there that would care enough to check this out?
Please?  I would be grateful in behalf of all the special critters
represented there.
 
P.S. I'm not trying to get any legitimate decent people in trouble.
Some of them may simply be desperate to provide their pets a good home
and don't know about the FML.  The website owner may be trying to provide
a much needed service, (while making a living offering it, I might
add...not necessarily wrong), but I question the way in which it is being
done.  Maybe some of you would be able to judge that better than I can?
 
Thank you,
from Mary Sue and all her fur angels
[Posted in FML issue 4881]