Great story! It is so nice when people are actually looking for their
lost pets.

I have a similar story that occurred in January of this year. I got a
call one afternoon from the reverend at the men's homeless shelter,
telling me that a ferret had wandered up into their parking lot, and
asked if I could pick it up. (I have stopped taking in ferrets except
in dire emergencies, but when the reverend of the homeless shelter
calls, you figure that Karma may play into it LOL) Unfortunately, I had
a meeting I was leaving for so couldn't get there until about 9 p.m. It
happened to be one of those very cold spells that we occasionally get
in N. Florida, so he told me he would be there very late, checking
people in. He had put the ferret in a box in his office with cat food
and water. I later called to tell him I'm on my way, and the man who
answers the phone immediately says "Rev Jim told me to throw him into
the soup." HaHa So, here I go into a not so safe area at night, crowded
with a bunch of homeless men. I was a bit apprehensive but everyone was
extremely nice. The ferret was turned over to me.

As always when I get a stray in, I put an ad in the local paper, notify
the animal shelter, and put a "found" ad in craigslist. I also ask the
finders to put up signs in the area but the shelter staff were way too
busy to do that. In my ads, all I ever say is Found Ferret and my phone
number. The person claiming has to tell me the area of town, the sex,
and the color. I could tell this little guy has been well cared for.
Several days pass and then, out of the blue, I get a call. A young
couple had been missing their ferret for several days. It had escaped
through a hole in the bathroom floor. I asked what took them so long,
and she said that she was telling a friend about her missing ferret
and her friend had seen my ad on craigslist. The area of town was
absolutely correct, but scary because it meant he had crossed a busy
4-lane street to end up at the homeless shelter. I asked for sex and
markings and still wasn't entirely sure, but I was 95% sure. I asked
them to come to me and to be completely honest whether this was their
ferret. I would have never done that if I wasn't pretty sure. They
showed up, she started crying, and I knew it was their ferret. We
talked a little about ferret-proofing. It seems he had escaped through
the hole before. The bathroom door was supposed to be kept closed. They
promised to be more careful. I told them they might want to stop by the
homeless shelter and thank them for taking him in.

Nice happy ending---- 

Katharine
Florida

[Posted in FML 6290]