The person who emailed you may not want to call the authorities on her
friend but she should realize her friend has a mental illness and is
causing an enormous amount of cruelty and animal suffering. If she
was to contact the authorities they would not only help put a stop
to animals being made to suffer but they would get her help as well.

The most important thing is getting help for the ferrets. A ferret
"pooping maggots" is being eaten alive from the inside out. I have
dealt with many animals that were full of maggots when working for
veterinarians and this is a horribly painful, slow death. I won't
go into details on the horrors.

Try to get her to give you a name and address on the hoarder/breeder.
If nothing else maybe contact an Ohio ferret group such as HOFA or AFA
as they may be closer and more able to help. If she won't contact them
perhaps you can or both of you.

In most states there are now laws against animal neglect and cruelty.
An anonymous call could help save all these animals and get the hoarder
the help she needs. It could also stop her from repeating this activity
in the future.

Thanks,
Carolyn

[Posted in FML 6401]