I have, in the last few wks, done a day of cage cleaning & such at
Ferrets Unlimited in Cleveland, & I know from first-hand experience
what the situation is for Jean.  I constantly tell her I wish I could do
more to help her out, but when you live 1.5 hrs away, have 2 kids, & a
husband who's work hrs are irregular, it's impossible to schedule
yourself regularly to help out.  Jean basically has only 2 rooms left
completely to herself & her husband - the living room & the bedroom.
They even share the bathroom w/ the shelter.  It's unreal.  What I do as
often as I can is to haul a trunkload of supplies up to the shelter -
bottles of bleach, those Clorox Clean-Up type wipes (except I bring the
Kroger brand, which Jean seems to particularly like), cases of paper
towels, garbage bags, laundry detergent, etc.  It's not enough.  If I
lived closer, I'd be there at *least* once a wk.  I feel it's my
responsibility to help out, as a member of the ferret-owning community
of northern Ohio - which is quite large.
 
I'd like to think that it's the vast *minority* of ferret owners who
turn their ferrets over to shelters.  Jean currently has 90 of 'em.
Which leads one to wonder, how many responsible & caring ferret
households are there in northern Ohio?  If 90 ferrets is only a tiny
amount of the number of ferrets in this neck of the woods, there must
be a LOT of responsible ferret owners out there.
 
My question is: Why aren't those responsible ferret owners *helping*?
Why does Jean have to get by w/ only 2 or 3 volunteers who come in on a
*semi*-regular basis?  Where is the support of these responsbile ferret
owners, emotionally, physically, monitarily, etc?  Jean is trying to
build a building for the shelter, rather than running it out of her home.
She's getting practically *no* support from area business owners (fund
raising events) or ferret people in her area.  And "her area" consists
of some fairly good sized towns - Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron, Lorain,
Elyria, Oberlin, Norwalk, Mansfield, Toledo, Tiffin (my city), Findlay,
Bowling Green, Sandusky, so on & so on & so on.  That, right there, is
the bulk of the entire northern tier of Ohio.  One heck of a service
area, if you will.  One ungodly tiny amount of assistance - virtually
non-existant.
 
Where are the people?  There are certainly ferret people in these cities,
right?  Why aren't more people helping Jean out?  Sure, she got a lot of
help about 3 yrs ago, when she was dx'ed w/ Stage 4 cancer & was in such
horrible shape.  But I guess the support disappeared when it became
obvious that Jean wasn't planning on dying right away.  As her health got
better, it was her *support* that died.  And it's not like she's some
fly-by-night operation.  She's been doing this shelter thaaang for 12 yrs
now - a lot of it, practically all by herself.  A lesser person would
have folded *ages* ago.  I think the fact that she hasn't is a testiment
to her expertise.  But even the experts need a helping hand.  Especially
when their shelter is groaning under such unbelievable numbers, when her
vet bills can stretch into the thousands of dollars, & when they're
trying to improve their operation by moving it into it's own,
purpose-built facility.
 
Many of these things, of course, can be said for about every shelter in
the US.  Where's the support?
 
Speaking as a member of the ferret community of northern Ohio (& speaking
my own thoughts completely here, of my own free will & out of my own
concern), I am ashamed.  Where is everybody?  We can do better than to
let the only ferret shelter in our part of the state go unnoticed &
unhelped.
 
Jean, if you're reading this, I hope I didn't embarrass you by writing
this.  I hope I haven't spoken out of line.  But it just ticks me off
big-time to see what you're being forced to do on your own, w/ virtually
no help, when it seems there are so many people out there who *could*
help.  It just doesn't make sense to me.  I wish someone could explain
it.
 
</soapbox>
 
Lin, Ariel, Oberon, Max, Puck, & Ivan
[Posted in FML issue 5333]