Dear Laura,
 
Marguerite has been an ebay seller for the last few years, and while she
could have called UPS and Fedex, without a car how is she supposed to get
there a half hour away.  The post office is a block from her house and to
ask for help to pay for shipping when she's donating all of the products
is not that much to ask.  If you didn't want to help, then you shouldn't
help.  Sure you gave her a suggestion and it's her perogative to take it
or not, and she knows whether or not it would even help.  That did not
give you the right to come onto the FML and flame her.  You wouldn't
appreciate it either.
 
Why do you say she isn't a real shelter?  Is it because she's not a
501c(3)?  Well, there are plenty of other shelters/rescues out there that
aren't either and you don't have to be a 501c(3) to be shelter, it isn't
a requirement to be one, only a requirement to be able to get the
donations and tax write-offs.
 
I know Marguerite both as an adoptive parent as well as a friend.  I live
2.5 hours away from her and live closer to other shelters here in MD, and
she is who I chose to adopt from, and continue to adopt from.  I board my
ferrets with her when I go on vacation (she, I might add doesn't take
vacations from her shelter because there isn't anyone else to run it for
her and without the help of people who donate and adopt from her she
wouldn't be able to run the shelter much less go on a vacation).  And I
trust her fully.  I have seen her shelter, and I support her shelter.  I
make donations to her and I don't ask for a receipt or anything in return
because I know I'm helping her.  She runs the shelter with her family.
She is a stay at home mom with four kids and her husband works.  She
doesn't beg for donations, she does what many of the people on this FML
do, and that is ask for help once in a while.  There are people who are
on here all the time asking for money, and she got flamed for that not
too long ago on the FML, so her postings for help have been less
frequent.
 
She maintains her shelter very well, clean and tidy, feeding the sick
ferrets around the clock even bringing them with her on her trips to the
shows and going back to the hotel to feed them so that they don't have
insulinomic seizures.  The crack you made about ferrets dying in her
care was unnecessary.  She has taken in ferrets who were sick, and some
couldn't be helped by the vet, others had treatment and still couldn't
make it.  Some were old, and their days were numbered, and those
"unadoptables" as some like to put it were considered part of their
family and cared for until their time came.  Part of being a shelter
unfortunately is having ferrets or other animals that pass, and at least
in Marguerite's case, their passing wasn't her fault and wasn't something
that could be prevented.  I have never ever seen her just let a sick
ferret sit and not make visits to the vet when they were warranted.  She
gets them the care that they need, and she doesn't turn the sick ferrets
that people drop at her doorstop away, they deserve better than that, and
she does that for them.
 
Marguerite doesn't make money from her shelter.  Her husband works and
money for the shelter comes from the family's money if she doesn't have
enough coming in from donations or products that she sells on ebay or
her website.  She definitely isn't in this rescue business for the money,
if that was the reason then she'd be doing something else.  Her family
doesn't profit from this.  Her family sometimes has to wait for things
longer than they care to so that the ferrets in their care can be taken
care of.  Your story isn't straight.
 
So she breeds dogs.  Who the hell cares?  She breeds ferrets too and not
like some backyard breeder who breeds a bunch of litters all at once.
She is a responsible breeder both with her dogs and with her ferrets.  Is
she not allowed to have any other hobbies or interests besides ferrets?
Do you have other interests besides ferrets?  Your website says you do,
and so does hers.  How does that make her any less of a shelter?  You
didn't like that she called you on what you said.
 
The ferret community seems to be a very divided one to me.  For every
person that you ask about you can find people who like them and those who
don't.  That is definitely true here in MD and from what I can see on
here, it's no different anywhere else.  I'm sure that not everyone is
fond of you, as I'm sure not everyone is fond of me.  I was told when I
first got my ferrets that ferret people can be the nicest people you meet
or the nastiest, and I have found out just how true that is.  What group
do you want to belong to?  The nicest or the nastiest?  Rumors make
people look like asses.  You shouldn't talk about people until you know
them yourself, and don't judge Marguerite or her shelter unless you get
to know her and see her shelter.  Then you can make your own assumptions.
There are plenty of people in this ferret community whether they are
voicing it or not who back Marguerite and her shelter and would refer
people to her instead of others in her area in a heartbeat.
 
Sincerely,
Very Satisfied Adoptive Parents, and Friends of Marguerite and the
TinyPrints Ferret Rescue
Jen and Archie
The Great Eight (Frankie, Charlie, Julia, Cailin, Sammy, Oliver, Roxie,
and Toulouse)
and their dog and cat
 
http://jenandarchie.tripod.com
[Posted in FML issue 5002]