Big I'm sorry if this is long:{
Ran into a slightly strange situation yesterday.  Background: I had given my
name to our local Humane shelter early on when I understood that they
wouldn't adopt out ferrets, they would euthenize(sp).  Well the Natl Policy
softened and later when I was out donating food, I asked if they had gotten
many ferrets in.  They replied they had a few but had found homes quickly.
Oh Ok great, I thought they had taken National letter to heart and changed
policy.  Well yesterday I get this slightly panic'ed call.  We got a ferret
in and we can't adopt ferrets out except to rescue and we need to get it out
of here by close of business today.  Ok, I'll be right out.  I go out and
while there asked, but didn't you guys tell me before that you adopted out
some ferrets?  Well our director says we cant adopt out, we need a license
we can only give to rescue (so they think their exotics?).  Somewhere the
word liability was mentioned, actually in the phone conversation I think.  I
really couldn't seem to get a straight answer.
 
Tracy?  Alan?  Other Michigan members - have you ever heard that a shelter
needs a license to adopt out?  They gave me this ferret and didn't have me
sign anything, pay money, zip.  I walked in said I was there to get the
ferret - Oh Please Please Please come this way here here here - they were
practically in a tizzy.  So they said they were putting my name in the
computer as the "ferret rescue person" (before it was on a card).  Guess I'm
official now or something.
 
The other part of the story was they said the ferret had been found running
loose in a town about 15 miles from here (still county).  I mentioned on the
phone that I hoped the person called.  They replied that "the girl" who
brought it in thought she knew whose it was but knew (gets fuzzy here no pun
intended)he had other animal(s) (ferrets?) get loose before, so they weren't
interested in pursuing placing the animal back with the owner.  I never got
it straight whether this girl was animal control or just a citizen.  They
did say when I got there that he seemed nippy, had either tried to nip or
bitten the girl - again I couldn't figure out what they were saying (hey,
I'm not stupid and have decent communication skills they were very vague).
So maybe that's what they were worried about?  Liability about a bite?
Anyway the ferret is a silvery sable with a great coat, very soft, not
skinny or anything.  I just happened to know a girl who works at Superpetz
in a larger town near here looking for another ferret (she has 4) for a
friend who has a ferret.  So that's where I am going today.  I am a little
worried because if I get many more calls I don't have a waiting list and am
not a shelter.  Plus I'am starting to worry about liability myself.  Tracy -
if I get overwhelmed can you help?
 
Sorry to blather on with a story that Trish and Troy and Dick and Michael et
al deal with as a matter of course but it was all new to me.  Would
appreciate any info from Michigan people involved in this sort of thing and
any others of course.
 
Mary, Boris and Giesela (who are shivering and subdued about this new guy
here)
[Posted in FML issue 1764]