One thing I can never figure out is why and how people can take generalized
comments so personally.  Prior to my comments on shelter problems, I stated
up front that not ALL shelters had problems.  The following day I repeated
the point, stating problems exist and we need to discuss them.  At first,
I thought it was a "betrayal" thing, where someone was offended that I
visited their shelter and then tattled on them, but I don't think anyone
I've visited has complained, and many I have visited has written privately
to say I was dead on the money.  I guess the thought is, since a couple of
relatively tiny shelters may or may not have a problem, it excused the
discussion of those shelters that do.
 
These easily-offended people confuse me; if you have a good shelter, why
should you take offense when I discuss shelters who aren't as good as they
can be?  I'm not talking about the good shelters, and in fact, I wasn't
talking about any particular shelter at all, but rather a pattern I had
noticed.  My God, man; take a lesson from history; bad things happen when
good people refuse to discuss or acknowledge problems.  These problems have
existed for a long time; ask Pam Troutman who started STAR Ferrets in an
attempt to standardize ferret shelter care.  STAR ferrets is fantastic, as
is Pam, and I have to say many of the STAR-affiliated shelters were among
the best I have visited.  But for every shelter in her program, there might
be dozens that are not, and many of them are the problem.  Also, as we
learn more about ferrets, our attitudes toward them change, and we should
be willing to adopt new strategies for ferret care as we learn more.
 
As for that "lost" adoption.  Do you honestly think a person who decided
not to adopt a shelter ferret because of my comments would have been a
suitable ferret owner?  I could just as easily point out that it is the
responsiblity of the shelter owner to educate their clients, even to the
point of saying "We are not that type of shelter; Bob C wasn't speaking
about us.  Let me show you how we are different." It sounds to me like you
lost an incredible opportunity to educate someone.
 
And now for something completely different.  I don't personally care how
many people write to say I am wrong, or how much respect they have lost for
me, or that I have done some sort of damage.  Its just as meaningless as
the scores of "attaboys" I get on a daily basis.  What matters is the care
of the ferrets, and if the problems I've described exist in only a few
shelters and the good stuff you've described exist in hundreds, IT IS STILL
A PROBLEM!!  Don't you understand???  It doesn't matter a putrid rats ass
if your shelter is a good exception if a single shelter has these problems.
Do you think I am making this up?  For what purpose?  I don't belong to a
club, I don't run a shelter, I don't invent organizations, or run mailing
lists, or even spout off on rec.pet.ferrets.  In fact, I have personally
chosen NOT to belong to various clubs so I could be impartial in my
observations and judgements.  And that impartiality is reflected by my
refusal to identify anyone or any place at any time.  I'll be blunt.  I
could give a crap who is good or who is bad.  All I care about is the
quality of life the ferrets experience.
 
Now, if we can get past this infantile "but its not me" thing, how about a
discussion of the most serious problems, which could be followed by
specific suggestions on how to correct them.  Here is a short list of
problems I feel negatively impact most shelters:
 
1)  Poor organizational or leadership skills which result in a lack of a
    clear and concise set of ferret-related goals.
2)  Adoption standards which do not reflect reality.
3)  Warehousing of ferrets.
4)  Sterile, boring environments.
5)  Cramped conditions causing spread of disease.
6)  Lack of community participation or education.
7)  Reduced human socialization.
8)  Increased stress.
9)  Sedentary confinement resulting in a lack of muscle tone.
10) Ferret collecting or curatorship.
11) Diet and obesity.
12) Photoperiodism.
13) Funding to care for sick ferrets.
14) A lack of club with clear affiliation with shelters.
 
Now, I have a suggestion.  Is there someone on this list who is willing to
collect all the posts, list the problems, and then catagorize the solutions,
with the goal of a reposting of the issue at a future time?  If we really
wanted to do things right, we would first create a list of all the bad
stuff, then, list a single question at the beginning of the week for all to
comment on.  The answers could be collected, compliled and posted the
following week.  Think of what a creative and important information base
that could be!!  Who volunteers for this job?  And one final thing.  We can
flame each other, or we can attempt to solve a problem for the shelters.  I
elect to do the latter.  What do you want to do?
 
Bob C and 20 Mo' Loud Mouthed Weasels
[Posted in FML issue 2514]