I know this post is long, but it's very important.  First of all, I am not
posting this to start a huge "battle" or discussion over shelters.  But to
anonymous who posted about our shelter in Minnesota.
 
First of all I have to wonder why it was you posted anonymously.  Is there
something you are hiding buy not revealing your identity?
 
Second, I imagine that you had talked to our shelter mom and were for some
reason she did not want to adopt to you and this is why you are so hostile
toward the shelter now.
 
Third, the responsibility of our shelter is first and foremost to the
safety, care and well being of the ferrets.  Period.  She is not running a
shelter in order to "please" everyone.  If she adopted out to everyone
that called her she would be no better than the pet stores or the human
societies that let anyone take home a ferret, whether they are a
qualified/experienced ferret owner or not.
 
Many people that talk with our shelter mom think that she is rude and to
strict on her adoption policies.  First of all, she has more relaxed
policies than alot of the other shelters out there.  She doesn't adopt to
households with children under 6, most shelters the age limit is 10 years
old.  She doesn't require a financial background check.  She doesn't do an
in-home visit.  Because of this, she has to ask a lot of questions on the
phone and then again in person so that she gets to know who you are and
what kind of ferret parent you are going to be.
 
Again, since you posted anonymously there is no way for us to know if you
are the woman that called the shelter looking to adopt a ferret the DAY
AFTER she killed her ferret in the washing machine because she didn't check
the laundry basket before tossing the laundry in the machine.  We don't
know if you are the gentleman that called our shelter looking for a black
eyed white ferret to complete his "collection."  We don't know if you are
the young man that wanted the shelter to give his pet store ferrets to sell
on consignment.  These are just a small sampling of the types of phone
calls she has to deal with on a DAILY basis.
 
Our shelter has been dealing with overpopulation for almost a year now.
She has tried her best to adopt out as many ferrets as possible, but you
have NO IDEA how many people call her looking for a baby ferret.  Many
people don't want to adopt a "used" ferret, yes that's what they call them.
There are a lot of people out there that don't want a ferret over the age
of 2 years old, because that's when they start getting sick.
 
You said that you were unaware of this overpopulation problem in our
shelter.  I wonder what you would or could do to help?  Please make a
suggestion, or better yet - volunteer at the shelter a couple hours a week.
The other reason people don't know about our shelter is because we have
ZERO marketing funds.  All the donations go to the care of the ferrets.  We
try and put up flyers and posters about our shelters in pet stores and they
take them right back down.  You see, the pet stores are in no hurry to help
advertise the shelter that might take away potential business from them.
We have also posted a classified ad on the internet for those interested in
obtaining a ferret.  I received an average of 5 e-mails a week for about a
month that I answered.  Of those e-mails that I sent out and asked some
general questions to and then asked those people to call me, I heard from
ZERO.
 
I am truly frustrated by this overpopluation, as I am also a foster parent
for the shelter as well.  The ferrets that we take in are wonderful, sweet,
loving ferrets that were given up because someone moved into an new
apartment and forgot to check if ferrets were allowed BEFORE they moved in.
I have one little boy that was dropped at my house because his owner moved
in with her boyfriend and then they got a dog - out goes the ferret (whom
I adopted by the way).  Until you have spent some time at the shelter and
talking with some of the people that call looking to adopt or that want to
drop off a ferret, DO NOT critize the guidelines that our shelter follows
in order to ensure a good home.
 
As for sending the group of ferrets to a southern shelter.  We should be
lucky that there is a shelter that actually has a waiting list for ferrets,
whose adoption guidelines are much more strict than ours.  By sending these
ferrets to another shelter means forgoing the adoption fee that would be
used to pay the vet bill.  This is something the shelter will deal with
because the ferrets come first.  Period.
 
I'm sorry if I seem to be rambling on, but this is an issue that is very
near and dear to my heart.  I adopted 3 of my 4 ferrets from the shelter.
It also pains me to know that our shelter mom is getting so burned out by
this that last week she was on the brink of "giving up" because she simply
cannot continue on her own.  To those club members out there reading this
that haven't done anything to help, you know who you are, what have you
done to help the shelter lately?  Any donation would be helpful.  If you
don't have the money to give, donate a couple hours a week to help clean
litter boxes or clip nails.  Any help you give will help ensure that we
don't loose the only shelter in Minnesota because you just didn't have time.
 
Anyway, if anyone is able to help with the transport of these ferrets to a
shelter that has a waiting list please contact us.  You can e-mail me at
[log in to unmask] if you are able to help with the transport, or are willing
to volunteer some time at the shelter or help in any other way, please
contact me.
 
Thanks,
LuAnn
++++++++++++++++++++
[Posted in FML issue 2532]