Dear FML,
 
All right, I'll do what I can do to compile posts and sort topics and
define problems so we can all brainstorm solutions.  But 'Tis the Season
and I work for the Post Office, so starting tomorrow my work hours get
absolutely nuts.  So it would be nice if at least one other person would
work with me, should I miss something or get too brain-fried to think
clearly.
 
I made an instantaneous response to Bob C's original post, not to flame,
but to scream "It's not me!"  Since then I've heard privately from some
other people who have worked in, or are somehow affiliated with shelters
that DO have the problems Bob described.
 
What I've been hearing is this:  It's not the shelter's fault, they've
always had the best of intentions, but how can they turn abandoned ferrets
away?
 
So let's brainstorm:  Let's hear more about fostering programs and how
foster homes are recruited and screened.  Leonard Bottleman described a
good foster program.  Now, exactly how do you recruit foster homes?
Through a club?  What about if there isn't a club in the area?
 
And let's hear from shelters that have a need for ferrets and a waiting
list of adoptors.
 
And then let's hear from shelters that are over-crowded and would be
willing to send some ferrets to empty-er shelters.
 
I know two OTR (Over-the-road) drivers that might well be coerced into
trying to get regular load routes along the path of pick-up and drop-off
sites to help this exchange of ferrets.  The driver I discussed it with
didn't leap in and volunteer, but he didn't tell me to "go fly" either.  He
merely mentioned that it could be done, and it would be a hassle worth $30
to him.  How many OTR's do the rest of us know?  (Jason Poole, do you have
your ears on?)
 
One thing is definitely true -- for the health and well-being of ferrets,
desperately over-crowded shelters *need* some solutions and some breathing
room.
 
My parent shelter in MN was weighed down with some 50 fuzzies.  About a
dozen of them were taken by a volunteer to Arkansas, where there was some
room, and that lightened the load up here.  Ferrets are hardy animals, and
brave--every new place is another adventure to a healty curious ferret.
 
(BTW--would the recipient in AR send me an e-mail?  Two of the fuzzies were
from my shelter, and I'd like to keep in touch.)
 
If you are a desperately over-crowded shelter, admit it to yourself and
help us find some answers.
 
One thing I'm curious about, and you can e-mail me privately if you'd like:
Are the shelters with these problems of having hundreds of ferrets that
don't get human contact and don't get proper run time more often housed in
a building of their own?  Or is it just as common when the shelter is run
out of the home?  I've only seen home-based shelters, my own and my parent
shelter, so I have never seen a shelter run along the lines of a dog pound.
And let's stick with the policy of admitting there's a problem without
naming any names or pointing any fingers.  Let's be impersonal and
non-judgemental and maybe we can get some work done.
 
One more thought:  It'll be easier for me to compile messages if they're
cc'd to me at [log in to unmask]
 
--Sheri M.
[Posted in FML issue 2515]