Did anyone happen to see "Real TV" on Monday, the 24th?  There was a story
about a "critter catcher" guy who removes unwanted stray (I take it usually
wild) animals from people's homes.  This particular episode showed how he
got an opossum out of a lady's garage.  But at the beginning of the episode
there was a quick scene where he was placing a white ferret into a cage.
The thing that concerned me was that at the end of the story, the moderator
said that this guy releases all the animals back into the wild.  I *hope* he
knows better than to do that with any lost ferrets he comes across.  This
particular service was in a town in Florida, but I cannot for the life of me
remember the name of it, although I'm sure it had the word "Critters" in it.
And I can't remember the name of the town either!  (OK, I was hand-feeding
sick ferrets at the time and not paying close attention to the program!)
There was a picture of a cartoon-like raccoon on his truck.  If anyone knows
of this service - or could maybe find it in their Yellow Pages - will you
please Email me; I want to call them and make sure that they know not to
turn ferrets loose.  I know this request is probably like trying to find a
needle in a haystack, but I figured what better way to possibly track this
down than on the Internet.  By the way, this guy handled the opossum
completely wrong; folks, of course they will growl and bare their teeth when
cornered and frightened.  Approach them gently and quietly - we have rescued
many an opossum.  They are shy, and they don't see well.  This guy's so
called "huge" 8 pound 'possum is dwarfed next to our 15 pound pet male,
Hamilton.  He lounges on the couch with us, but he is *terrified* of our
ferrets!  And they are not vicious animals; our 10 pound female, Possta,
curls up with one of our ferrets, Smokey!  (If you don't believe it, I have
pictures!)
 
Joanie Williams at Ferret Haven
[Posted in FML issue 1855]