Ten years ago, in early May, there were two little ferrets living in a
pot house in Wisconsin. They did not have names--They were referred to
as "the ferrets". The owners thought it was funny to exhale marijuana
into their faces & watch their reactions. They often did this, at the
parties they had.

The ferrets did not have a litter pan--the piles of poo were six inches
high in the corners of their filthy cage. The food dish was often
empty--and the water dish wasn`t clean. When one of "the ferrets" went
bald, someone told the owners it was cancer---and they had coped with
that by throwing her out in the snow to die...

Fast forward through the winter, my daughter`s friend attended one of
their wild parties in May.

Having found out after the fact, about the poor little bald girl who
had been thrown out to die, she decided to smuggle the remaining ferret
out of there. She knew we had two ferrets, and asked if we would take
the ferret in, if she brought it to us. She called the ferret "Clepto"
(for "stolen") LOL.

The ferret had had a "Pretty Terrible" life-- so we removed the "P" &
the "T" (the pretty terrible) and "Clepto`s" new name became "Cleo" She
was our first rescue.

Cleo was in pretty bad shape, & smelled like pot for a couple weeks,
despite repeated bathings. (Oh how little we knew, back then----and we
only had TWO FERRETS!!!!) Fortunately, we had a wonderful ferret vet,
with whom we developed a close friendship.(He taught me most of what I
know about ferrets.)

That`s how it started.

If anyone had told me, in May of 1998 that my husband & I would share a
home with 69 ferrets, I`d have said they were nuts! If anyone had told
me my husband would build TWO ROOMS, just for those ferrets, I d never
have believed them. If anyone had said I`d be talking & emailing with
people from all over the United States about their ferrets, I`d have
laughed. Come to think of it--If someone had told me my nickname would
become "Zoo" or that I`d be called "The mother of all ferrets" I`d have
been in stitches!!! LOL.

Anyhow, this week is our 10th anniversary. Pretty neat, huh?

Love,
Zoo

[Posted in FML 5960]