>From:   Lisa Leidig - The Ferret Haven -"By-the-Sea-"" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Is MF listening?
>I think you missed my whole point -- I wasn't asking for your opinion of
>what you think Marshall Farms does, I was asking Marshall Farms to respond.
 
Then why did you post your questions to this list instead of directly to
Marshall Farms?
 
>No offense, but your responses back to me were only your opinions, and as
>such, don't hold as much weight. {...{
>Whether or not you have spoken to people at MF, is not the point of the
>matter - no one else heard the conversation, so it may as well not have
>happened.
 
We are not happy with your insinuations that we are liars.  Saying "no
offense" doesn't make it less offensive.
 
>I am really, truly interested in hearing from MF.
 
Then communicate to them not to us on the list where anyone can respond.
 
>But if when the car "Ferret" was sold to the public, and a two years down
>the road, that 20% cars had problems, in three years, 30%, four years 45%,
>or whatever, -- then the more true perspective is apparent - there is a
>significant problem!
 
Well the "whatever" is pretty darned significant isn't it.  Car manufacturers
build cars and offer warranties based on knowing how long a car will last
given a certain level of care.  They KNOW how many of their cars will
experience problems.  MTBF (Mean time before/between failures) is a part of
the design process.  But ferrets are living things.  You can not predict
problems the same way.  Marshall has been breeding ferrets for something
like 60 years.  If they were as bad as a small but noisy minority thinks
than Marshall would go out of business as other ranches offered a better
product.  But instead Marshall seems to be thriving and able to charge a bit
of a premium for their ferrets as they have a very good reputation.
 
>If I understand your claim correctly you are saying that MF keeps at least
>1,000
 
We said no numbers.  You did.  They keep as many as they breed obviously.
Whether they keep others is conjecture.
 
>My experience was with Palomino Quarter horses, and those folks don't pull
>any punches.
 
A funny thing about palomino horses is that the requirements for
registration go against the genetics involved.  Its an example of
requirements not fitting reality.  The palomino is an example of a type of
gene that isn't quite dominant and yet not recessive.  When a single of
this dilute gene is paired with a full color gene if the color is chestnut
you get a palomino.  If paired with the bay color you get a buckskin.  If
paired with a different color you get that color.  If there are two of the
dilute genes you get a pale white/cream horse.  If you bred the white/cream
to a chestnut you'd get a palomino.  But this palomino can't be registered
as a palomino.  We think the champagne in ferrets is like this with
chocolate and albino.  This type of gene is sometimes called overdominant.
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF8/826.html
 
>(BTW, I have only owned 3 new cars in 12 years, and in each case, I was
>personally contacted by the automaker-not just a survey, but a 15 minute
>phone conversation.  To this day, they contact me...
 
You did.  None of the half dozen or so new cars we've bought have been
followed up with phone calls.  Well we get offers for oil changes but thats
not the same.  We do get calls from dealers but thats not the same.
 
>From:    alphachi <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: The Marshall Campaign: A real course of action
 
You several times state things are a matter of record.  We do not agree
that there is such a record or that such facts are true.
 
>Attempts *were* made to rescue these jills.  Marshall offered to "sell"
>these jills for approx.  $60 a piece instead of killing them.  This offer
>was not feasible for the shelters and organizations involved.  These events
>are a matter of record.
 
There is no organization that has the financial ability to pull off such an
operation without the $60 dollar fee either.  It makes little sense though
for marshall to purposely put some extra competition on the marhet.  A loss
of a sale to one of these is a loss of a sale.  If they cut this deeply into
the market they'd probably end up out of business.  But you knew this
already.
 
>Some Marshall protagonists have even suggested Dr. Bell left because of some
>imaginary right wing terrorist group threatening Marshall.
 
No left wing.  Animal rightists are left wing not right wing.  And the
threats are real.  Perhaps you should try talking to Dr Bell herself.
She tells a very heart rending tale about these times.
 
>The AFA has continued to fail to simply ask Marshall to answer these well
>established concerns.  Why?  This seems like a reasonable question.
 
So you know all of the AFA's private correspondance?  I'm impressed.  Did
they send you their files when they said that they don't "agree with us"?
Of course you really do know everything that the AFA has done not so you are
blowing political smoke.
 
The public posts to the FML so far do not bear out your contention that this
is a major issue to the majority of Marshall's customers.  We are just silly
enough to actually care more about the truth than showing our own importance
by trying to coerce a family owned company.  We do not like to see half
truths or lies bandied about by folks in a self-important manner.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
mailto:[log in to unmask]  mailto:[log in to unmask]
http://www.zenferret.com/
[Posted in FML issue 2230]