Oh, well, I knew there would be people on both sides of the argument, but
I thought I would add a little more clarification. Mr. Vaughn, I'm sorry
if you're upset. The underlying theme in my last post was the theme of
responsible ownership. Maybe I need to be more clear.
Anyone who tries to adopt animals from my shelter KNOWING that they may
soon be leaving the ferrets is not acceptable, no matter how noble the
jesture. Based on that, I would never adopt to anyone who is too blinded
by passion to think clearly. Valerie is a sweet person, I am not
disputing that. She made a hammock for me and sent it with an entire
care package to my shelter as a donation. If she follows through with
her plans to be a veterinarian, more power to her! If she specializes in
ferrets, I may be her first client, but my experience has been that she
doesn't always think things through. Eh, she's 19. Or is she 20 now?
In any case, I would never adopt to her as long as there was a chance she
would then be leaving. As a shelter operator, I have seen this before.
As a shelter operator, I need to try to adopt to stable people, not those
who act on impulse or out of passion. Does Valerie have the "right" to
ask for one of her ferrets back? Yes, I suppose so. I am sorry that I
phrased it differently in my first post. Does the new family have the
"right" to keep him. You bet! Was Valerie responsible in making sure
the ferrets went to a new home rather than letting them loose in a wooded
area? Definitely.
Buckie is an animal, not a human. Yes, maybe he is going through a tough
time adjusting to his new environment, but he'll adjust. People often
want to add drama to things by projecting human emotions onto animals.
In some cases, shelter shock can last for quite a while. I have
personally cared for almost 90 ferrets and in only 3 cases has shelter
shock lasted more than 2 weeks. Buckie hasn't even been in his new home
for what? A week? Should all Zoos send back their animals after a few
days just because "Oh! They're having a hard time 'adjusting'"? No.
When animals are bred in captivity and released into the wild, should
they be gathered up and sent back to their "home" just because they're
stressed by being in the wild? No. Let's give Buckie some credit.
According to Bob Church, ferrets were given an IQ test and placed
between cats and dogs, so yes, they are capable of being stressed by
new environments and aren't so "stupid" that they are completely unaware
of their surroundings, but let's not get carried away by saying, or
implying, that Buckie is too stressed to adapt. If all ferrets were this
fragile, they would never survive the plane trip from the breeders to the
pet stores. Or from the pet store to your home. If Buckie indeed is one
of the ferrets that can't adapt, then maybe the family can give him back.
However, that's up to them.
What about the feelings of the new owners? After all, they were the ones
who made the emotional commitment (and maybe put down some money) to take
the ferrets. Valerie is in no way being punished for anything. She gave
up her ferrets. A new family has them. Plain and simple. Maybe if
Valerie has learned a lesson from all of this, whatever that lesson may
be, then that's a good thing.
This is why I rarely adopt to anyone in their teens or early 20's. Not
that they are bad people, but because this is a stage in their lives when
things are quite dynamic and uncertain. "Do I go into the military? Do
I go college? Do I work at McDonald's? Do I travel through Europe then
go to school? Hmm...maybe vet school. OH! Or the French Foreign
Legion!" "Ooh. College is a lot harder than I thought it would be."
Maybe the new family will not be totally devestated and will take pity on
Valerie. Then Buckie won't have to "suffer", Valerie will get her ferret
back, and all will be right with the world.
This is the last that I will post about this. If anyone disagrees, then
we will have to agree to disagree. I will not post again about this
subject and make it a long, draw-out affair.
-Mark Zmyewski
[Posted in FML issue 4072]
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