[Moderator's note: A *long* post about a black-footed-ferret crisis follows.
The FML is about the *domestic* ferret, though now and then folks post news
about our BFF friends and I let it through. I had a much more difficult time
deciding about this post. Of course, the plea may be genuine and help may be
needed, but I simply can't allow every post of this length through if it's not
directly related to the domestic ferret. I'm posting this one (though I moved
it to the end of the digest), but I'd like to ask that follow-ups to this post
(or the similar post yesterday on the same topic) be kept short and factual.
Most of us, myself included, are probably very upset over stuff like this, but
this simply isn't the forum for it. Thanks, BIG]
5/19/95 The Black Footed Ferret as a species may be knowingly killed off by a
very few government employees and a pack of coyotes June 1st.!
I just learned in conversations lasting up to 5:00 am this morning, that
the entire fate of the endangered Native North American Black Footed Ferret is
in danger of being destroyed by government red tape, bureaucracy, and budget
cuts! This would lead to the extinction of the race in captivity as well. The
oldest ferrets, which are the grandparents and great grandparents of the ones
released in the wild last year, are falling to a fate that the greyhound racing
dogs were recently rescued from. They are no longer of breeding age and are
scheduled June 1st (ONLY A FEW DAYS FROM NOW!) to be released in coyote infested
badlands of North Dakota. They will be eaten in a matter of minutes as they are
tame from years of human handling, they have non treated medical problems, and a
couple of days ago the people in charge of the Pueblo program HAVE PADLOCKED THE
CAGES SO THE MEDICAL TECH. CANNOT GIVE TREATMENT TO THE FERRETS ON HER OWN
VOLUNTEER TIME TO NO COST TO THE GOVERNMENT!!!???!!!! She has worked for free
for the last year, given 4 years of her life, and her co- worker gives her his
entire paycheck to support the lives of the ferrets where the government has cut
the budget and cares not about their welfare.
The SPIRITUAL side, is that she is seeing some of the old guys now in
Pueblo that were part of the original capture effort in Wyoming, and they
remember her! Much to my supprise, I heard how they've a lightness of spirit
that is much more evolved and free than the known gentle, intelligent spirit of
the domestic ferret. The heart breaking news is that they are looking and
saying with their spirit "how could you betray us and let us down, you humans
who have tried to help us survive as A RACE???? They are so sad that they
LITERALLY are giving up and dying in her hands, despite anything the two people
who are doing all the work, can do for them! The facility in Colorado where
they have received their best human care, (Wyoming is where the elderly ones
were put into the February Wyoming winter directly from a warm indoor setting
(imagine your fuzzies' chance of survival), with no period of acclimation to
build a winter coat), the Colorado facility is on a closed down military base
that has such toxic waste in the ground that metal buckets are eaten away in a
few months from contact with the ground. The breeding boxes are under that
ground, and there are tunnels in the dirt connecting the boxes with the above
ground living area. The water is so toxic the army is paying for bottled water
for residents of the town within 25 miles! The poor ferrets are drinking the
raw water because there is no money for a simply less than $100 counter top
filter that would take out the heavy metals in the water. (I know Amatek makes
one as I got one for my Son recently. Phoenix water is no treat, as most of the
bigger cities suffer from recently).
The last two human hopes for the survival of the Black Footed Ferret as a
species will WALK OUT if the elderly ferrets are sacrificed as the emotional
trauma of trying to help very intelligent beings to survive against not only the
natural problems, but the program administrators at the local level working
directly against the goals of the project and the survival of the species will
just be too much to handle. We're talking about people that have devoted their
finances, their time to the extreme of 14 to 16 hour days, 7 days a week with
minimal attention to their own human survival needs. It makes the thousands of
miles I've traveled and thousands of dollars I've spent to help domestic ferrets
look minor by comparison! These people would suffer complete nervous breakdown
if they continued after all the elderly ferrets are destroyed! Almost each day
one of the elders is slipping thru her fingers, communicating "I just want to
die, there's no hope left". I'm emotionally jumping thru the ceiling as I only
can imagine the suffering of the two humans as they devote their lives to a
cause where the program directors who should be supportive are actively working
to destroy the program and the ferrets who have grown to trust us humans because
of government budget cuts.
The BFF Living Care Center proposal has corporate sponsors who have
pledged to take up the money end of it, and now it is only government red tape
that won't allow the release of the ferrets to "private parties", the
endangered species the same law was written to protect! The inability of the
authors of the law to see the future has wound up in a situation where the
extinction of a race of intelligent life form here on earth is perhaps days away
from happening!
When the captive raised BFF were released last year, they had them for
some 6 weeks in a stationary cage in the wild before releasing them The people
in charge were thinking this would let them acclimate to the surroundings, but
it back fired, by letting every predator in the area know what "food" was being
made available! Years of hard work went into the program, and more than half of
the ferrets were eaten in a matter of minutes to hours! Imagine raising little
fuzzies that you then watch coyotes eat! This was not smart! An hour long
program on TV recently announced the "success" that of the 50 some ferrets
released TWO kits were born in the wild! ONLY TWO!
The time to act is NOW! There is only a matter of DAYS LEFT!! >> June
1st. <<
is the scheduled release time!! Call, Fax, visit if you can, as writing is too
late, your Congressmen, Senators, the Governors of Wyoming and Colorado, the
Federal director of Fish & Wildlife, the Denver fish & Wildlife director, your
local TV news hot line, your paper, your friends who care at all about life on
earth, because as many people have said, "watch the wild things closely, when
they start to die, start counting your own days, for they will then be numbered
on earth!" We are the people who have the fate of not only the Black Footed
Ferret in OUR hands, but really that of all life on earth. It is getting pretty
bad out there. But WE CAN make a difference, starting with this race of
fragile, very intelligent furry little people, who desperately need our help to
simply survive. The people who can are willing, corporations are willing to
foot the bill, only a typical government regulation snag stands in the way!
If there are any legal people who could help sue in federal court to
grant a stay of "execution" they are in need of that avenue of help if it was
available. Perhaps the govenors of Colorado and Wyoming could put pressure to
help... Who's from those beautiful states??
I even talked with the manager of the San Diego Zoo, Mr. Art Risser. San
Diego is where I had lived for 15 years, the city , not the zoo, thank you,,,
and Art has said that he and other zoos would be willing to act as "authorized"
way stations for the elderly ferrets if necessary while the regulations were
sorted out. (The San Diego Zoo you may know, has just hatched their 100th
Condor, another endangered life form). So they are well respected in their
field. They are the only people who successfully breed the Koala, outside of
Australia.
>>>People to contact: US Fish & Wildlife Service: Miss Mollie Beattie,
Director, USFWS, 1849 "C" St. NW, Washington, DC 20240, Fax=202-208-6965; Mr.
Ralph Morgenweck, Director, Region 6, PO Box 25486, Denver Federal Center,
Denver CO 80225, FAX (303) 236-3815;
BFF LIVING CARE CENTER proposal available upon request. Write
or call Carolyn R. Kinsey, 140 W. 29th St., Ste. 191 Pueblo, CO, 81008-1016.
(719)391-2627. (This dear lady is the med. tech. that has given 4 years of her
life 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week to the cause. She designed and built the
Pueblo facility. She was given the worst of the Wyoming ferrets, and in spite
of this produced quality ferrets that were released last year. Any
contributions to her would I'm sure be greately appreciated & go to medicine and
good quality food & care they desprately need. She is running on the entire
paycheck one of her former co workers is giving her, but it's not very much with
the number of fuzzies she's trying to care for. Talk about devotion!)
God bless them and you as you do whatever you can to help.
Sincerely, for the Black Footed Ferrets,
Gary Holowicki, [log in to unmask], Compuserve 75464,741, 602-968-1523, pager
800-209-1071
The intelligent little ones will be eternally grateful for any and all
help you are moved to contribute.
[Posted in FML issue 1199]
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