I too was very moved by Mr. Serrano's story, for a number of reasons.
The poor man lives alone in a tiny room just off the boiler room.  Not
exactly the American dream.  Sounds like a rather sad and lonely life.
He seems to have a kind heart, as he takes in strays.  I imagine the
dog and ferret helped allay his loneliness.  We know all too well how a
ferret can come along and steal your heart.  It sounds like he had grown
very attached to the ferret, as he carried it around with him just about
everywhere he went.  How hard is it to lose a ferret to old age or
natural illness?  Even more hard to know it was taken by thugs who may
mistreat it.  He tries to get it back, and winds up in the hospital for
his trouble.  Odds are the poor gentleman is not rolling in cash to begin
with.  Now he has huge hospital bills, which he may or may not be able to
pay.  In his type of job, he may have little or no sick leave, which
means no pay.  He has his own pain and injuries, and on top of that the
emotional pain of worrying about what will happen to Mico.  Thugs that
would beat up a poor man and hospitalize him aren't likely to treat the
ferret all that well either.  Of course, they may have taken it with the
intentions of selling it to get drug money or something.  Probably the
most that can be hoped for there is that the ferret will eventually wind
up with someone who will give it a good home.
 
I really do feel very horrible for what Mr. Serrano is going through
right now.  I wish there were some way the ferret community could do
something to help.  Take up donations or send cards.  I don't know, but
I found it to be a very sad story.  He sounds like a nice man.
 
Just my thoughts on the matter.
 
Holly,
Icarus & Cato
[Posted in FML issue 5193]