Update on July 19 Post About Possible Hoarder Situation in Ohio

On July 19, a post appeared regarding a possible hoarder/breeder
(always a bad combination) situation in Ohio. If you don't quite
remember the phrase, "pooping out maggots," appeared in the post.
That should ring a bell. Horrors!

We just wanted to advise everyone that Ferrets Unlimited Ferret
Shelter, which operates out of Cleveland and serves northeast Ohio,
worked with Dee Gage from West Michigan Ferret Connection (who
received the original contact), to communicate with the source of this
information and to obtain the identity and the address of this breeder.
We contacted both the Stark County Humane Society and the city of
Alliance, Ohio, health department, and they sent out a humane officer
and sanitation inspectors, respectively, to investigate the complaint.

We also had a volunteer visit the place under the pretext of purchasing
a ferret, but they were unable to gain access to the house. This person
claimed that it was evident that someone was home, but no one would
answer the door.

Both the humane society and the health department report that the
situation is under control. The source claimed that there were at least
13 ferrets in the home that she could identify (she swore there were
more), but the health department officials found only 5 ferrets and 2
dogs on the premises. There had been an issue with roach infestation
(absentee landlord!), but the health department says that a licensed
exterminator has been called in and the premises are now habitable.
Supposedly, the animals were kept away from the roach poision, but we
can only hope. In addition, the breeder's son is seriously ill, which
has kept her away from home for quite of bit of the time.

The person who called this situation to our attention received an email
from us, telling her about the findings of the humane society and the
health department. We have not heard back from her. We have no reason
to question the reliability of this source, but either the conditions
were remedied in a hurry, or the person, for whatever reason, was
exaggerating. We suspect the former.

On a better note, our source told us that the woman does obtain vet
care for her ferrets and that she is fairly well known in the area as
"the ferret lady."

The ingredients for scary stuff are still present. And, we are by no
means naive enough to think that something nasty might not have been
going on here. The humane society said that they have flagged this
address for periodic follow up; let's hope that they mean it.

At any rate, that's all we can tell you about the situation at this
time. We know there has been continued interest in situation from the
ferret community, both locally and network-wide, but we wanted to wait
until we had something tangible to report before posting.

Thanks to everyone for their care and concern.

Deb Daugherty Benson
President
Ferrets Unlimited Rescue Services
Cleveland, OH

[Posted in FML 6428]