Hey everyone.
First I want to say that it was GREAT to meet some of you at the Kissimmee
Ferret Show, Saturday, especially those of you involved with my getting
LadyBug, and those of you I have been chatting with privately for a while.
My sister, my friend, my ferrets, and I had a lot of fun at the show.  My
ferrets were soooo well behaved- I was so proud of them!  This was their
first show and so I was afraid of how they would do around all the people
and all those other ferrets, but they were perfect angels!  They won
ribbons for their places in the rings, and they got little prizes for the
games they won too.
 
There were a lot of shelters selling their wares; lots of cute stuff for
sale.  I hope they all did good to raise money for their shelters.
 
There were a couple of things that rattled my cage, however.  The judging
seemed not quite right- not completely fair.  I learned that one big winner
in particular had relatives on the judging panel, and there were other
things too.  There was some drinking going on in the parking lot, which I am
told included the judges.  Then there was the big ugly scene at the end
where the police came about a woman who apparently had too much to drink.
Now, I do not raise "show ferrets".  My boys and my girl are my kids, my
pets- and we went to have fun.  I didn't expect first place trophies but
I did at least hope for fair judging, which I don't think we got.  But
the really big problem I had with all this is the irresponsibility and
unprofessionalism that was displayed.  As judges, certain standards should
be upheld.  And as ferret lovers, we need to be careful of the examples
we set!  Ferrets already do not have the best reputation with everyone.
Drunken behavior at a ferret show certainly can't help that, especially
when it escalates to the point where the authorities have to be called!
I'm all for having fun, but a ferret show is not the place for excessive
alcohol consumption.
 
Ferret shows should be for raising money for the shelters and promoting all
ferrets' well-being, proper care, and bettering their furry little
reputations.  I'm glad the turnout at this show was good, and so hopefully
the shelters did well from it.  But folks, we have got to keep our wits
about us at events like these!  People are watching us, as ferret owners;
and our ferrets are often judged by others based on our (human's) behavior.
Please don't do stupid stuff that could endanger your ferrets and other
people's ferrets as well.
 
My 2 cents.
--Anais Rachelle Mahl
Proud mom of McKyle, Merlin, and LadyBug
[Posted in FML issue 2602]