Hello Everyone!
 
First Lars and I would like to Thank "Everyone" who posted concerning the
Wild, Vicious, Mean, Nasty, man eating Swedish Ferrets.  Your post meant a
lot to us, and thank you very much.
 
**On 9/1/97 Pam wrote:**
>Well, someone said they were, and since I have never met an Angora, I have
>to go by what others said.
 
Right here says it all, "Well, someone said," Pam you know our email
address, why didn't you just simply ask us.
 
>"I have to go by what others said"  This is how flame wars and rumors begin.
 
The only Wild or Vicious animal any of our Swedes have seen is "Me
(Nadine)," could be due to one reason, I had not had my morning coffee yet,
or I just finished reading the "poo poo" that was posted on the FML!  Do not
get me wrong not all of it is poo-poo but some things like the rumors or
flames we could do without.
 
If I believed everything that everyone told me or heard from the grape vine
concerning different ferret people or even ferrets, I would not be talking
to a whole lot of you.  Please, next time go the real source, the people
involved in the situation and make your own conclusions you may be
surprised, they're a lot of nice people out there regardless of what this
person or that person may have said.
 
Now about our Swedes, if everyone noticed one common factor in all the post,
almost everyone mentioned the higher energy level, some people may mistake
this as aggression.  I have said it before, these guys love to play and that
is their main goal...........I will admit that they do not like to be caged,
and this is where the pet stores had their problems.  So yes they may have
gotten aggressive, but due to only wanting to be out and playing.... This
was a mistake on our part and we have sinse stopped selling to pet stores.
 
**As far as this post that was posted on 8/28/97 Rose wrote:**
>During our conversation he (Mr. Bob with the USDA) brought up "imported"
>ferrets.  In particular he mentioned the Swedish (also known to many as
>Angora) ferrets.  It appears they are very nasty and MANY bite cases are
>being reported to CDC and APHIS.
 
I truly find this hard to believe we did not import that "Many" for it to be
that "Many"!
 
>The large number of bites from these imports could really hurt all the
>great work you all are doing for pet ferret."
 
I am sorry, but everyday I read a story concerning ferret bites, are you
Rose or your USDA agent Mr. Bob trying to say all these stories I read are
people with "imported ferrets" I think not.  My opinion here again the blame
is being put on an extreme few and I mean few cases not "Many".  With all
the cases of reported ferret bites from MF and PV are those the few and the
imports are the many.
 
A little short story, my very first ferret bite was 12 years ago, from an
American (MF) ferret, blood drawn the whole works.  This was not an abuse
case, he was a very loved ferret but he only loved his mommie and "NO" one
else.  My first impression of ferrets was not a good one, as far as I was
concerned I would have never owned one.  Times changed, 10 years then go by
and I met Lars and the Swedish ferrets, and some of ya all know the rest of
the story:)
 
One finally note:
Out of those 20 ferrets that were mentioned sitting in the pet stores back
room, we received 17 of those back.  I will say none of them were mean nor
nasty, (they did not come back to us in the best condition either).  A few
of those very same ferrets new families even posted concerning their sweet
temperaments.  So what does this tell us folks.
 
I really wanted to make this short, but it looks as if I didn't, my fingers
just kept typing away.  I could have said a lot more, but I don't want to
take to much of anyones time.  Thank you for listening, and Thanks again to
the ones that posted, it really meant a lot to us.
 
Best Regards,
Lars & Nadine
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[Posted in FML issue 2053]