Ed Wrote:
>Last night about 12:30 or so I went out to the ferret digging grounds with
>my flashlight to bring back into the ferretarium the several ferrets that
>had been staked out there throughout the day.... I was shocked when I went
>to CAHIL-ni's tunnel and saw the opened figure-8 Englander Geschirr [G.]
>english harness lying limp and empty on the ground still attached by its
>line to the hitching post.... She wasn't in the tunnel either.  Hooo Boy!!
 
- What a terrible thing to do.
 
>Oh, my heart sunk like a rock.  Spent the next hour with a powerful
>boater's flashlight going very slowly all around the neighborhood hoping
>to spot her or the refection from her eyes that glow back at you like two
>tiny, twinkling blue/green Christmas /Hanukkah lights.  I was nervously
>aware that any moment a Mercer Island Police car would come and spotlight
>me as a consequence of a nervous neighbor worried about some lunatic out
>there after midnight shining a flashlight all around his house....
 
- The Mercer Island Police are not who you should worry about but you
should be concerned about the SPCA and the City Attorney.
 
>Didn't find her and crawed into bed feeling pretty damn disgusted with
>myself for trusting my 10-year old Englander Geschirr.  I hate to admit it,
>but somehow in my mind I said a very sincere prayer that she'd come home.
>Now for an avowed agnostic, that's a guilt-laden admission.  Yes it is.
>But she did come home safe and sound.
 
- Is it just me, or is this EXTREMELY IRRESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR?  I cannot
understand how anybody could leave their ferrets "staked" outside all night
unattended.  Hmmm....I wonder if any of these ferrets have ever been
attacked or eaten by a predator?  Then again, I am sure that Ed would just
say "oh well, ferrets are simply part of the food chain."
 
>Now since I'm kinda' walking around here in the religious spirit, I'd like
>to ask any biblical scholars out there if they can find in the earlier
>version of the King James version of the Bible, the chapter and verse,
>wherein it states in so many words, that God said he didn't much go for
>the idea that people should eat ferrets....
 
- Is this Ed's bible?
 
>Oh, and on another note of import to me, especially since I've had two
>ferrets from the homosexual community, and both gave copious kisses, is
>there even a remote possibility that HIV/AIDS could be transmitted via
>the ferret's saliva from the saliva of the ferret's previous owner, whose
>lover died of AIDS just prior to giving up this ferret?  ... Wasn't
>HIV/AIDS transmitted from the monkey to man originally?  I recall that it
>was.  Could it also be transmitted from ferret to man?
 
- Call your doctor, I am quite sure they can answer this question.  By the
way, there are several heterosexual people with AIDS that may have ferrets
or may have come in contact with ferrets, so shouldn't you worry about ALL
your ferrets?  I bet you could even screen people for AIDS that come to
check out your breeding facilities.  Just a thought for any paranoid
people.  AIDS is not transmitted this way.
 
>Do I have the responsibility to inform a would-be-adopter of such a ferret
>that it was originally owned by now deceased victims of AIDS?  If so, would
>that ferret ever be adopted into the non-homosexual ("straight") community?
 
- This is just ridiculous.  In my past experiences with homophobic people,
I have found that the homophobia usually means one thing...that they are
closet homosexuals that are trying to hide behind a facade.  There are so
many uneducated and naive people out there that do not understand how AIDS
is spread, are you deliberately trying to perpetuate this and create
hysteria in ferret owners?
 
- I do not like homophobic and/or racist remarks and would appreciate it if
they were taken to a different forum.  There are plenty of hate groups and
I am sure that it would not be too difficult to find a chat forum on the
Internet that could support these types of comments.
 
- I am sorry for everyone that had to read this, but I will not keep quiet
about these issues.  I do not like narrow-minded thinking or racist
comments and I try to create awareness for those who are uneducated.  I
feel that racism, homophobia and intolerance is still the problem with
this country.  Unfortunately, it is happening more and more in schools
(look at Columbine).  It is really sad that adults could actually
perpetuate this way of thinking.  THIS IS THE 90s (and it was not ok in
the past either).
 
Enough of my rant.  Hope all is well with everyone and I hope we do not see
any more hatred or racism on this board.  Over and out.
[Posted in FML issue 2719]