It's Friday night and a call comes in on the Hotline from a crying,
distraught and barely understandable member..."Help me please, my ferret
is missing!"  Worse yet the call is being made from 800 miles away where
a members vacation has become her worst nightmare.
 
I'm on vacation she explains.  Auntie "R", who has been faithfully stopping
by twice a day to feed, play and care for her ferret, arrived on Friday
afternoon to discover that five year old Jacob is no where to be found.  A
thorough search of the apartment reveals an open kitchen cupboard and on
closer examination a hole in the wall.  A search of the adjoining
apartments leads to a horrifying discovery.  A neighbor did indeed find
Jacob standing in the middle of her kitchen floor still wearing his black
leather collar with bell.  "IT peed on my floor" she states in anger
"Rodents should not be allowed in this building".
 
Auntie "R" explained that Jacob is not a rodent and that his owner has
permission to have him there.  To make a long story short the neighbor,
on discovering Jacob in her kitchen, picked him up, put him in a carrier
or box (there is confusion about this) and carried him two blocks to edge
of the river valley and let him go!  Nice neighbor eh?
 
Auntie "R" called her friend who called us and together we began a
systematic weekend long search of the area.  Volunteers and friends,
supplied with squeakie toys, treats, posters and business cards, covered
every square inch within a four block radius.  Auntie "R" also called the
pound, the SPCA, the police and every vet office within the area several
times daily.
 
By Sunday afternoon we were pretty discouraged.  No sign of Jacob could be
found and no one had seen him.  But there must have been a little voice
in Auntie "R's" head that Sunday afternoon that told her to take a drive
over to the SPCA personally and thank god she did.  Despite being told
repeatedly, by employees at the SPCA, that Jacob wasn't there he had in
fact been turned in on Friday afternoon and had spent the weekend in the
shelter safe and warm.  Jacob's owner was overjoyed to hear that he was
safe.
 
Please remember to go personally, more than once, to your local animal
shelters if you have lost a pet.  With so many strays and animals to care
for local shelters volunteers and employees don't always know what has
recently arrived or what is currently in the shelter.
 
Barbara Gustafson
Alberta Ferret Society
President
http://www.albertaferretsociety.com
[Posted in FML issue 3399]