Dear FMLers

This is just to make sure everyone understands that the raffle that
myself and a few other ladies are putting together was not done because
someone at the Michigan shelter asked us to do it. We hope very much to
raise money to help care for the ferrets already rescued. They already
have a heavy financial burden with the animals rescued from Doug's
farm, and may have a far greater monetary loss of immense proportions
in the future due to this breeder who also appears to be a hoarder.

I know that I meant for the money I sent and the gifts offered in the
raffle to go towards the care of the ferrets already rescued. I
apologize if I was the one who caused any confusion in discussions.

About a year ago, a family was finally arrested here. They were
breeding dogs in their home..They were found with 55 dogs in their
small home. None of them bothered to learn a skill. They sold the dogs
on the Internet. The son said to the police that he would kill himself
if they took the dogs away...(because it meant he would have to
actually get ...gasp...a JOB!)

I pass the home on my way to visit my mother. It is all boarded up and
condemned. The people would not stop breeding despite warnings, offers
of support and help, and the terrible odor. The only thing that stopped
these breeder/hoarders was to be put in jail and have their home
boarded up and condemned.

Hopefully, they will come to understand in prison that what they did
was wrong. But when they come out...they will still be people who have
chosen to have no skills or education or employment record...This was
true, apparently, for the entire family. Apparently, there were lots of
beer cans found thrown around in this case also. Hmm.

It is one thing to be so blind and stupid and hurt only yourself.
(These people were offered advice and help for years, as it has been
explained to me.They chose insanity...the actions the same as the year
before, and the year before...but expecting different results.) As my
grandmother would say...You made your bed. You lay in it.

It is another situation entirely, in my opinion, to involve the lives
of helpless beings. The burden of an extra 55 animals on the shelter
they were taken to almost closed it down. No other animals could be
taken in for a year, and they are still in heavy debt despite massive
numbers of people calling. All the dogs were adopted out..And the
shelter still lost money, as you can imagine. And this was only 55
mostly young animals that did not tear your hands apart. You do not
make profit from these huge ferret rescues. Implying that one does is
egregious.

I have hoped that a group could organize and create an account for any
large rescues not related to weather or earthquakes. I have written of
this. But I believe that there is just too little money out there for
this to be feasible. Saving money...raising money...raising awareness..
for a future large intervention or rescue is something that needs to be
thought seriously about and acted on. Easy for me to say, isn't it?.

I am glad to see that the Michigan group appears to have been thinking
about this. As there is no other group set up for it...with what
appears to be a hoarder breeder family still apparently breeding, yet
stating that they cannot afford to breed...how could they wisely not
try to be proactive?
 
The writing is on the wall. It is in the testaments written. It is seen
in the pictures we have observed. It is in the horror of the suffering
lives of the ferrets on that plot of land. I think it is fairly safe to
say that there will be no happy ending for all.

[Posted in FML 5545]