Several people recently have posted letters regarding situations where
they encountered ferret ownders who were mistreating their animals.  It
may be useful for us to discuss the best strategy for handling this type
of situation.  I know that if were to see a ferret that was panting from
thirst, or had an earring stuck in an infected ear, I would be EXTREMELY
angry (recalling one of the letters that I have seen recently).  Certainly
yelling at the owner would make me feel better.  But I wonder is this is
the best thing to do from the standpoint of accomplishing what it is
important to accomplish, which is getting the ferret better treatment.  If
you tell someone they are an idiot for treating their animal a certain
way, then it will be hard for them to change their behavior without
agreeing that they have in fact been an idiot--this is a hard admission
for most people to make, especially when they really are idiots :). Once
discussion over the animal's treatment becomes a confrontation, people
will think that giving their ferret better treatment is "losing";
stubborness may kick in and prevent the animal from ever getting the
treatment it needs.  Might it be better in some cases to pretend to be
friendlier than you really feel; for example, to suggest that they probably
just haven't noticed how thirsty (or dirty, or sick, or whatever) their
ferret is, without suggesting that they are just crummy pet-owners without
enough sense to care about these things?  This gives people an "out"; they
can change their ways without admitting too much fault for their previous
behavior.
 
This is arm-chair psychology; I haven't actually encountered this type of
situation so I can't say that this approach has worked "in my experience."
 How does it fit with the experience that other people have had?  And I
hope nobody takes this as a criticism of the way they handled a given
situation; I am just trying to think about how I would want to handle it
if it does arise for me sometime (and I am pretty non-confrontational by
nature, so maybe I just want reasons not to have to yell at strangers :)).
 
 
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Dale Miller, University of Pittsburgh
Sile et philosophus esto.
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[Posted in FML issue 0868]