Yesterday, we had a group of three ferrets come in to the shelter.

OK, nothing too unusual about that, right?

All three were GORGEOUS dark sable ferrets. Nice beefy, muscular bodies
(ok, a little fat but I'm not going to cast stones...)

Soft, thick fur. That's somewhat unusual.

They are really sweet. Lots of kisses, and they want to be held but not
in a "needy" way.

All three boys had macho earrings (tags, meaning they were sold for lab
use).

So, what's unusual about these beautiful boys?

They came from the program at the University of Washington where they
were used to help train doctors on how to intubate little preemies.

They are also the last three ferrets in the program. UW will no longer
use ferrets for this training.

I can't say that I'm unhappy that they won't be keeping ferrets just
for this training, but I do have some mixed feelings:

* It is absolutely obvious that these ferrets were very well cared for
and were loved. They were regularly played with. If there are ferrets
in a training/lab environment, these people are the ones that are doing
it right. There are plenty of facilities that don't take this kind of
care of their ferrets, so it really frustrates me that these people,
who are doing it right, are the ones getting punished in the public
press. I for one salute the care which they gave these ferrets.

* I was told that from now on, the doctors in this program will be
trained by using videos. Think of having a critically ill baby treated
by someone who had only watched a video.

Kevin Farlee
Washington Ferret Rescue & Shelter

[Posted in FML 7279]