for those worrying that Petco will take up the slack: Petco has been
selling ferrets forever.........they have a lot more strict rules
than Petsmart did. #1 being they do buy from MF which is regularly
inspected, where Petco even does their own inspection of the
facilities, and Petco has the right to turn down shipments IF the
kits are too young and under weight (they go by weight than by age).

Petsmart about 3 years ago started selling ferrets in satellite stores
to see how it went. I had tried to get people to boycott their stores,
to threaten to quick buying from them if they started selling ferrets -
I was hit with if Petco can why can't Petsmart. WELL if we were overrun
at the rescues with Petco selling, how much more would we be when
Petsmart started as lot of people will only go to one or the other
store and those that went to Petsmart would be getting their first
taste of ferrets they hadn't been exposed to in the past. AND that was
also Christmas time too when they started it. Well it didn't go on
to all their stores, thank goodness, Instead of going to a reputable
breeder to get their animals, they chose one we now are hearing about
in the news from the Peta investigation.

There shouldn't be much of a slack for Petco to pick up, its not
exactly that most people go out looking for ferrets, its they see them
in the stores and say OH aren't they cute, and buy. I just had a man
turn in 2 14 week old ferrets, lots of supplies with a Ferret Nation
cage (usually sells $249) He had them 7 weeks and knew they weren't
for him - a Christmas gift to the wife and kids who didn't take care
of them. We have had them turned in as young as 8 to 10 weeks because
people buy on the whelm. NOW Petco is giving them a 10 day return
policy. Petco has also worked with us here, ill or "defective" ferrets
are turned over to us rather than being put down when it is too
expensive AND time consuming PLUS they will help with the medical cost.
We also have an inside line if we get a report, check it out and find
a store is not adhering to the requirements they set out for the
treatment of the ferrets in their CCC. PLUS they also refer people
to us for education, adoption if they don't want baby ferrets, or to
surrender ferrets to a safe house. They beg us all the time to set up
ed tables and show our ferrets at their store. They told us they would
rather our ferrets be adopted and they sell the supplies to the public
although they just donated 6 expensive cages in boxes to help raise
money for our shelter.

I do not look to see a big increase in Petco's selling of ferrets.

Millie and her Cleaning Crew
www.Txferretrescue.org

[Posted in FML 5888]