Sukie, I am just speechless here. I feel like I just came out of
Ferrets 101 at Ferrets Univ. I "sort of" knew some of that, but I
had no idea what the sources were let alone all of the most recent
ones that just blew my mind. That was awesome.

For those of you who skim, or who had little time to read yesterday,
go back and read Sukies post. It is fascinating.

Speaking of this bill which will "protect us" from vile, diseased,
killer hamsters and such ... I just thought of something that is rarely
if ever brought up to the gov. Pet owners contribute to conservation
sometimes by owning exotics ... especially educated, responsible ones
who only deal with captive bred animals here in the states. I've owned
many exotics in the past. For some that I owned, I do wish there were
some sort of better laws that protected the animals (but never did I
see the pets I chose as a major threat to our ecosystem here) because
the pet trade can be absolutely evil when importing in. I now know to
support small breeders HERE in the states so that we don't ruin the
planet by hunting free animals out in the wild. But even then, I've
been tricked by stores that swear their stock is captive bred when
it is NOT. Back to how pet owners help many species in major, major
ways. I own a Goffins cockatoo. Its' a very small, clownish species
of cockatoo. They are nearly common here in the states actually. Yet
I found out that because of our massive deforestation on the very
Indonesican islands that they originate from, they are not just
endangered, but bordering on or considerd extinct. EXTINCT. But thank
goodness exotic pet lovers,bred these birds at large here so that they
are still on this earth. I imagine this single bird is not the only
animals species that just so happened to have benefited from American
pet owners and pet trade.

Know what too? I found out VERY quickly that the dollar speaks very
loudly, especially in dealing with ignorance or insensitivity. Sixteen
years ago, Sean was one of only 1 in 10,000 that were autistic. Because
of that, we were alone. Very ... alone. Sixteen years, ago only 1 in
10,000 with his type of autism existed. We could not seem to persuade
educators and other proffesionals that we needed help and that help was
literally a matter of life and death for not just these kids lives, but
the families lives (I was not the only parent of an autistic in the
mental hospital who was there pretty much soley because of what we were
going through ... one had even attempted suicide). It finally occurred
to me. They not only did not want to deal with the inconvience of a
child like Sean, but he would also cost them money. That was the bottom
line. So, I finally changed my strategy in the endless, perpetual
chess game I had been sucked into by taking up the old addage of
"if you can't beat em, join em". Whenever I hit a road block with
proffesionals, etc, I completely turned off any motherly feelings, and
"forgot" all the science that was involved and that I was trying to
debate with. Instead, I only addressed the almighty dollar. And let me
tell you, there was a lot to be addressed there. What benefited me,
also benefited them ... I just had to spell it out to them. They can
argue a lot of things, even science, but they could not argue numbers.
Up until now, I try not to ever think about it because of the fury I
still feel deep inside about those callous times. Years of putting
myself into the mindset of those people really took its toll.

On that note, I guess I"m done. I need to change gears and get busy
with something else so I don't go nuts again.

[Posted in FML 6312]