We're back on the pet store issue in the FML again, so I thought I'd share
with you how the Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association feels/responds to
the pet store issue.
 
In a perfect world, I'd like to see pet stores not sell pets, but just
educate about pets and sell pet products.  To get a pet, you must go to a
private, small scale licenced breeder, or a shelter, and pet stores would
refer to them.  But don't get me wrong, this isn't a perfect world, and this
is never going to happen, because there are large commercial breeders.  They
have their own business, and I won't really comment on that issue here--but
they have the legal right to own that business and sell pets.  So, there
have to be places for these animals to be sold.  That's just a fact.
 
I run a shelter, but I will never tell someone not to buy a ferret from a
pet store.  The reason is simple.  What makes a shelter ferret more
deserving of a home than a poor little kit that was born and sent to a pet
store?  Both need good homes.  But to be honest, at least in my shelter, the
ferret in the pet store often needs a good home more than the ferrets in my
shelter, because every shelter ferret in my rescue (all three branches of
the shelter) is treated as our OWN ferret until the day it's adopted out.
In the pet store, they won't get such loving care (in most pet stores,
anyway).  Now I know the other side... if there were no people to buy
ferrets in pet stores, there would be no pet store ferrets.  Yeah, in an
ideal world.  But that won't happen, because every day someone new decides
they want to buy a ferret, and they don't even know ferret shelters exist.
There will always be someone new out there to buy from a pet store.
 
So when you can't make the ideal happen, you need to do the next best thing.
Change the bad things that *can* be changed.  Let's go on the assumption
that large commercial breeders will never go out of business and they will
never stop altering at such a young age--I won't discuss that here.  So, on
that assumption, we need to make sure that all of the ferrets on the planet
are cared for.  Most shelters are quite good at that, so we need to target
two areas: pet stores that sell ferrets, and ferret owners that already own
ferrets and aren't caring for them.
 
It's not a small job, but think about it.  What are we up to on this list?
3000?  I don't recall, but if everyone on this list (not to mention the
thousands that know someone on this list) were to go to the three pet stores
closest to their homes, with information printed up from ONE source, with a
strict education plan rehearsed beforehand, imagine how many more ferrets we
might be able to help.  If in each of these pet stores there was a flyer
hanging with the number of the closest shelter, or tear-off info sheets on
web sites and phone numbers, awareness of the places to get information
would skyrocket.  If the pet stores themselves were more educated about
ferrets, what to feed, what litter to use, what toys to give, and even where
to refer people when they can't keep their ferrets, we'd make a significant
dent.  We would not reach every needy ferret.  But we'd reach a heck of a
lot more than we are already.  How many pet stores out there know that there
are ferret shelters?  How many know what to tell a person when they say they
can't keep their ferret?  (many pet stores won't take in ferrets that aren't
babies).  When was the last time you went into a pet store and saw
information about local ferret shelters--or any ferret information--on their
bulletin board or info rack?  There are some that I've been in that have
this--but I was the one to provide the info.
 
I've had an idea welling up in my head for months now, on how to get this
information dispersed, and to encourage pet stores to do this and make them
believe it's *for their own benefit*.  I haven't worked out the kinks yet,
so I won't go into it here, but if anyone is curious, e-mail me and I'll
fill you in.
 
I don't criticize any shelter that opposes pet stores, because I understand
why.  But this is how the PFRA feels about this, because every ferret, be it
a shelter ferret or pet store ferret, is still a ferret and deserves a good,
loving home.
 
Kymberlie Becker Barone
Director, Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association
"Forget Puppy Love...There's nothing Greater than Ferret Love!" TM
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/ferretlady
[Posted in FML issue 2222]