I'm pleased to announce that the ferret community again has the
opportunity to name the kits on the Smithsonian National Zoo's
black-footed ferret web cam!
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/NorthAmerica/default.cfm?cam=BFF

The 6 kits (3 males, 3 females) born to Cyan and Ledo on June 20, 2009,
need names, and Dr. JoGayle Howard, Reproductive Specialist for the
Smithsonian, has agreed to allow us to name them after shades of blue
in return for a suitable donation!

Possible names are:
Teal
Aqua
Baby
Powder
Sky
Navy
Marine
Sapphire
Denim
Indigo

You can vote with your donation! Put all your money on one name, or
spread it around for your top 6 names. Or just donate with no
particular favorite. The top 6 vote getters will become the names for
Cyan's kits!

To make a tax deductible donation, please send a check made out to
"Smithsonian Institution" with "black-footed ferret program" in the
notes field and send to me at: Linda Iroff, 46180 Butternut Ridge Road,
Oberlin OH 44074. Make sure to include a note with how much of your
donation you want to go to each name!

If you want to make a donation via Paypal, please send to
[log in to unmask] . Again, please note which name(s) you want to
vote for. These amounts will NOT be tax deductible as I am not a 501c3
charity! I will make an accounting of all funds sent to my paypal
account available on request (with names redacted) at the end of the
donation period, and the total amount will be sent to the Smithsonian
along with any checks.

To sweeten the deal, JoGayle will provide three 8x10 color glossy
photos of adorable black-footed ferret kits, adults or families as
preferred. Three names will be drawn at random from all donors to
receive the photos.

The deadline for me to RECEIVE payment is Saturday, September 26. The
following weekend I will be volunteering at the Autumn Conservation
Festival at the Smithsonian National Zoo's Conservation and Research
Center, and I will present the checks to JoGayle then.
<http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ActivitiesAndEvents/Celebrations/ACF/default.cfm>

The kits will be leaving the Zoo around the middle of October for  
distribution to other black-footed ferret recovery programs or to be  
released in the wild. It will be a few weeks yet before distribution  
lists are determined.

Linda

*Cross posting in entirety permitted and encouraged!*

[Posted in FML 6437]