Sometimes I find it hard to believe that people so involved in ferret
shelters, rescues, etc, can be so naive about what the larger picture
is in the nation, and abroad.
 
Someone asked for proof about my statement that ferrets are routinely
destroyed if not sold at the market age of around 4-6 weeks, when the
farm's market is to wholesalers, distributers, and then ultimately the
pet stores.  This is a no-brainer in the sense that ferrets viewed as a
"product" that keeps a cash flow maintained have to be produced all year
round, this means producing them under lights that go on 4 hours and off
4 hours, typically, day in and day out, year in and year out.  Sixteen
hours of light keeps the jill and hob in heat.  This burns up the female
after she has several litters in a row.  The males can't stay in
perpetual heat without serious health effects.  The nutritional status of
the depleted jill can have serious health consequences for the kits, not
to mention her.  This is why I breed seasonally, and do not use lights,
to ensure the optimum health of the ferrets in production.  They need to
go through normal cycles of shorter, cooler days, and then lengthening,
warmer days.  The reason that I breed in the type of building I do, is
because lights in a home environment can also be detrimental to ferrets
by altering their cycles.  In my building, everything is adapted to meet
their specific needs--right down to the triple insulated roof, tunnel
fans, and cages that allow the jills and hobs to be rotated in and out of
different size and style cages, and into play areas that are not cages at
all (neither are they stalls).  The window curtains go up and down either
manually or by thermostat.  Misters can bring the inside temperature to
69 degrees in even the hottest weather, in just a couple of minutes.  Or,
I can just put them into the air conditioning........
 
For producers marketing to pet stores, the kits must be overproduced to
be sure that supply equals demand, so that the competition will not move
in and get any edge.  More kits produced than needed is the optimum
situation if one is in production for the pet store market.  The excess
kits can be used to replace worn out breeders, sent to labs, or destroyed
as surplus.  Labs require a continuous flow of ferrets that are
genetically identical, or nearly so.  There can be no interruptions in
that production once there are contracts, because labs cannot change mid
research projects without altering their results.  If one lab is doing a
research project using ferrets, then there are usually 3 other labs
running the same experiment to validate it.
 
I offer no proof of any of this except to say that I stay on top of such
things because there are many breeders scattered around that routinely
contact me before they destroy their 8-12 week old kits, and know if I
can find somewhere for them to go I can be trusted to do that without
condemnation, photographers, media coverage, etc.  ,and I am certainly
not going to give myself any merit badges.  I am not in the pet store
market, so they know that I am not their competitor, just someone with
contacts who does not like to see healthy, beautiful ferrets destroyed
for the sin of being "over the hill."  I recently had to pass on over
100 that I felt I could not place, and later confirmed with the breeder
the ultimate outcome of these kits.  This hurts.  So, yes, I know.  I
also know where the kits are being bootlegged by breeders selling to
pet stores without the required USDA license, and doing the surgery
themselves with no anesthesia and box cutters, and nasty conditions.
This is very stressful to watch, but watch I did--not on my kits, and
I always insist on an experienced veterinarian with my kits and full
anesthesia and controlled surgical sanitary conditions in a vet's office,
but a breeder wanted to show me his expertise in doing his own surgery
so I went and watched and wish I hadn't.  Kits done like that at around
4 weeks of age do not survive well if at all, but it is a cheaper way to
do it and for some people the only way to do it.
 
I know where pet stores are taking blue pens and putting tatoos on
ferrets that would indicate that they came from a USDA licensed facility
(pet stores are supposed to only buy from a USDA licensed facility).  I
know where the USDA facilities are that market wholesale, but with no
tatoo.  I know which are gassed, which are electrocuted, which get their
throats slashed, which are fed raw chicken, which will end up for tissue
harvesting, which are fed raw fish and have mouth infections from bones,
and which are left to starve.  I know far more than I would like to, but
as to proof, I will continue to be someone that a breeder can trust to
help them, not judge them , or I would not be enabled to help at all.
The ferrets would just die rather than being brought to someone's
attention who has a willingness to try to help with confidentiality.  I
can only help a very small fraction of them, and so when I said "a lot
of dead ferrets" I was trying to be less upsetting to the readers.  I
estimate it is thousands a year, since I don't know the inside practices
of the largest of the companies, only the breeders with around 60-2000
ferrets.  Most exist in obscurity, without websites.
 
I am a sucker, not a crusader.  My phone number is on a lot of
refrigerators, apparently, and I never solicit to help anyone.  There
are some I refuse to help and tell them why, but I do try to give them
other options.  I have a plan in place to remedy several of the biggest
problems I see, collectively, with an acceptable outcome that does not
damage anyone's reputation or put their families at risk, or hurt them
financially, but don't know if I can implement it--that remains to be
seen.  I am sorry that the truth is graphic for those of you who have
never thought about the larger picture, but we do not live in a perfect
world.
 
--
kathy jordan, carolina ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 5026]