Greetings all! :)  Hope everyone had a good New Year and such. :)  Just
wanted to share some of my experiences with some nasty people.
 
The last few weeks or so have been a little silly for me.  I have run
into so many different people from all sorts of backgrounds and such,
with so many different misconceptions and opinions about ferrets.  I
also am owned by rats, so I battle these daily with them, but lately,
I'm hearing more and more regarding ferrets.  Some people are wary and
generally like them (the ferret), not knowing much.  Others have turned
their noses up at me and left me with some snide remark.  For instance,
at my work, a friend of our manager visited during Christmas with her
dog, a small poodle I think it was and discussed getting her poodle's
picture taken with Santa.  Well, my ferrets had already gotten their
pictures with Santa and of course, being a ferret fanatic, my manager
mentioned it to her.  She immediately changed her tone of voice and said
"well I hate ferrets".  Now, the way she said it, I could hear her in
another room so I decided to venture in there with her and find out just
exactly WHY she hated them.  She proceeded to tell me that she had owned
all sorts of animals, but none were so vicious as a ferret.  She also
mentioned that a baby had "attacked her" and was "ferocious".  I simply
told her that ferrets just don't do that, that she was probably just
nipped by an untrained baby.  That did NOT make her happy.  AT ALL.  She
then expressed to me that she wouldn't even let her child near one, and
that she'd told everyone what horrible creatures they were.  I, of course
being mad, kept my cool and just told her that she was sadly mistaken,
and didn't know what she was missing out on.  I don't think anyone like
her should be owned by ferrets anyhow.
 
Another lady I ran into worked at a local Petsmart, and she was one of
those (as I like to call them) "obnoxious know-it-alls".  See, I travel
with my ferrets a lot because they looove to go everywhere with me, and
one day after being at the vet, we went into the petstore.  She tried to
tell me all about them (and she was so wrong that it made my ears hurt
almost) and that if they contracted rabies, that they would attack you,
and you would just die.  It's hard for me to counter their arguments,
because they just don't listen (types of people like this that is) so I
did my best, and she still was convinced that they were rabies-infested
horrible animals, since that's why they are "illegal" in Louisville
(which is also untrue.) She was so sadly incorrect on pretty much every
issue she brought up, but what can you do?  They never listen.
 
I'm really wanting to start a ferret club in the area to start educating
people on what ferrets are really like and whatnot, but I'm not entirely
sure on how to do that exactly.  It's something I've wanted to do for a
long long time, but NOW moreso than ever after meeting all these people
and hearing all these silly misconceptions.  I think I'm going to look
into it and get one (hopefully) started up in the near future, since
there are none in this area.
 
So my question to you all, what other crazy things have you heard about
ferrets (that are untrue of course)?
 
--
Lin
Seiko, Nanoki, and Yukina (the ferts)
Sachi, Atari, Oliver, Lennox, Keoki, Ilo (ee-lo), and Kenzo (the ratlets)
<3 You will be missed Shinjin. <3
 
No one in the world needs a mink coat but a mink. - Murray Banks
Animals can communicate quite well.  And they do.  And generally
speaking, they are ignored. - Alice Walker
Hunt each other - leave the animals alone.
[Posted in FML issue 5111]