**Alicia K Drakiotes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>In breed / rescue those folks assume the animals and absorb what they want
>>for their own breeding purposes, then they find suitable homes for those
>>who are older,retired or not preferred for their use.
 
**And Bill Killian <[log in to unmask]> replied:
>Uh... No.  There is a very definite distinction between shelter ferrets and
>ferrets brought in for the ferretry.  It is a very definite no-no to breed
>a shelter ferret.
 
I have to agree with Bill here.  Breeding ferrets isn't about getting as
much free breeding stock from running a rescue as possible.  It's about
selecting excellently bred ferrets and continuing to breed them to other
excellently bred ferrets to create more excellent, or better yet, superior
ferrets.
 
Whether you condone or dismiss breeding is essentially your business.
However, it's always people who don't breed who make erroneous assumptions
about those of us who do.  Things like: we breed everything that comes into
the shelter; we use the shelter fees to support our breeding; we're breeders
"masquerading" as shelters; and my favourite -- if we're breeding, then that
negates our rescue efforts and the shelter isn't as legitimate as other
shelters that don't breed.  Hmph.  These assumptions used to hurt my
feelings, especially when the local yokels in these here parts made it part
of their campaign to make themselves look better.  But then I figured out
that because it's only non-breeders who like to insult and defame breeders,
then their complaints must be made out of ignorance, not knowledge.
 
Some people argue that shelters of any kind perpetuate animal abandonment
because shelters provide an easy out for people who don't want their pets.
These people (there was recently a book written about this subject,
actually) even go so far as to say that shelters are doing more harm than
good.  Would you disagree with this?  I'd say you probably do, because you
run a shelter, and I doubt you think you're doing more harm than good.  But
does that make these people right?
 
I'm not trying to insinuate that you're ignorant, Alicia, but rather that
preaching 'truths' about something you don't do yourself makes your argument
that much less valid.  You may very well know 100 breeder/shelters in your
area that operate in the fashion you've described -- I don't disagree that
some people may in fact do this.  But not all breeder/shelters breed their
rescues, so you can't apply it universally.  Those of us that keep our two
spheres of ferret involvement very far apart dislike being lumped into that
category very much.
 
All things should be evaluated on an individual by individual basis, and
that goes for hobby breeders of ferrets and shelters.  More importantly,
ridiculing and defaming hobby breeders isn't going to stop us, much like it
isn't going to stop Marshall Farms or Hagen or CDC from breeding.  See, from
where I sit I'm doing the best for both worlds; I'm taking in every unwanted
ferret I have room for and making sure it's healthy, happy and cared for
until a new and excellent home can be found for it.  I'm also selecting
ferrets with great temperaments and excellent health and applying my
knowledge to breed them and create more just like them so people don't have
to go to the pet store when they want a kit, and better yet -- they get
lifetime support from me, they can always bring the kit back if they don't
find it agrees with them (try that at any pet store) and every one that's
bred is wanted.
 
My point of view is obviously very different from yours, but it doesn't mean
either of us are either right or wrong.  They're just different.  I don't
say anything about a shelter unless I know it to be true, so it's only fair
that a shelter give me the same courtesy.  So all I'm saying is -- before
you decide that all breeders are evil you might want to talk to the breeders
themselves and learn about what we're doing.  Most of us have nothing to
hide, and most of us are darn proud of what we do, much like I'm sure you
are.  Let's stop lumping everything together and start trying to appreciate
what each of us contribute to the ferret world :-)
 
Happy Ferreting,
 
Sheena - [log in to unmask]  | "To Err is Ferret ... To Forgive|
VP - Greater Vancouver      | "... Well, That's Our Job"      |
     Ferret Association      (Wherret Web Pages Coming Soon!)
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[Posted in FML issue 2005]