>From:    Krista Lee Garis <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: ferret and mink Question
>Has anyone heard of the Midwest Bird and Exotic vet?
 
Dr. Susan Brown is one of the top in the world.  Small handful in her
league.  Seriosuly.  Thats the vet to go to in your area.  Nice lady.
 
>From:    Paula A Bryder <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: San Antonio
 
Funny you should as: http://www.ferret.org/afanews.htm
Legal as of April 17, 1997
 
>From:    Bob Church <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Elizabeth Tattles on Dad, Part whatever
 
Well we will certainly take care of him while its our watch...
 
>From:    Anonymous Poster <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Andrenal info
 
Thats odd.  Our vet has reached a different conclusion about this.  Does not
believe its primarily with Marshall Ferrets any more than most ferrets are
Marshall ferrets.  Treatment here in the DC area is far less costly.  Folks
come down from NYC sometimes to see our vet.  I guess we'll sheild him too
but I don't know from what.
 
>From:    Cheryl Bott <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: AFA & AKC
 
We suspect we are all actually closer to agreement than it might appear.  We
aren't fans of the AKC either.  But we try to look for what's good about it
to borrow.  And what's bad about it to avoid.  Ferrets have more work to do
than dogs so the non-show aspects are relatively more important.  Dogs are
legal in California and DC for example so the AKC isn't involved in
legalization while the AFA is.
 
The AFA does emulate the AKC but it also specifically does not emulate it at
times.  It does try to avoid many of the problems you pointed out.  Since
the IFA days ferret shows have multiple rings so it ISN'T just one person's
opinion.  Pedigree's do not "count".  A ferret is a ferret and it can be
shown unless its obviously deformed (or ill).  Lets face it shows are
glorified beauty contests with beauty also being defined as body structure.
Accept that and move on.
 
Diane's experiences in the show dog world were not good.  Bill resisted get
involved with ferret shows because of how much he disliked dog shows.  The
way we do it is to not care about the silly ribbons and trophies.  We like
the people and the ferrets.  Dinner after the shows is our favorite part.
The road trips together are fun.  We pack a bunch of ferrets and people into
a couple vans and hit the road.  Some people take the ribbons too seriously.
Oh well.
 
There is a lot of good to be taken from the AKC model and from the ACFA
model and even horse and other animals.  We even pay attention to what goes
on in the rabbit and fancy mouse worlds.  The seperation into local and
national clubs for example.  Good idea.  The AKC has prestige that the
ferret world needs to be taken more seriously.  So we "put on some airs" and
pretend to be very serious about it all.  Well we are.  Bill as a judge
takes it quite seriously - to a point.  In the end its only a piece of cloth
awarded so it doesn't really matter so as soon as the judging for that day
is done, all ferrets are equal again.
 
The important thing is as you point out - don't emulate the problems.
If the AFA does - call them on it!  We do.
 
>From:    alphachi <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: no more "small" talk
>with some estimated sales of well over 100,000 kits, and some 33,000
>breeders
 
Those numbers do not make sense.  Last figures we've seen published were
82,918 ferrets sold in 1993.  It is conceivable that they've raised that in
three years.  But well over is probably an exaggeration.
 
If it takes them 33,000 breeders to breed that many kits they really do need
to invest in new livestock.  They would be aiming for large litters so they
would keep breeders and kits of breeders that have large litters so no fewer
than averaging ten.  They'd be very silly to have as many hobs as jills.
They also try for two litters (sometimes three) a year.  So if their (we'll
use you numbers and even make it worse) say 16,500 jills had two litters
each in a calendar year for 33,000 litters.  And if they replaced all of the
breeders after they were three as you said so remove 16,500.  If they had 8
kits per litter - very reasonable as our average is 9 - they would have
264,000 kits minus the breeder replacements so 247,500.  Now this isn't
realistic to match the well over 100,000, this is almost a quarter million.
We tried very very hard not to cheat and gave all benefits of the doubt in
favor of your numbers.  But they don't make sense.  The math doesn't work.
Give us numbers that work and we'll then work on the problem.
 
See why we don't always believe the horror stories?  If the numbers are
wrong than the rest is suspect as well.
 
>I understand HSUS is considering expanding their puppy mill campaign to the
>ferret kingdom.
 
Don't attract the attention of HSUS to yourself.  They wouldn't be pleased
with some of your policies on ferrets.
 
>The bias that was actually admitted to may be yet another reason to at
>least consider a NEW national and unbiased organization
 
Huh?  What bias are you talking about?  Please explain this.  None of the
groups has stated any bias here (well recently anyway).  None of them like
Marshall very much.  The CFL has the most dealings with them usually as the
receiver of donations.  We are very confused.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1985]