This message has been cross posted and please feel free to pass it on...
 
I am sending out this message as a pre-heads up of the situation.  The
facts as we know them tonight are thus:
 
A woman in the Cocoa Beach area has been "sheltering" ferrets for some
years, her name is Jennifer Sippion (sp?).  Jennifer now wants to become
a Wildlife Rescue and has inspectors coming in on Monday, 9/15/03.  She
contacted someone she knew from the former Brevard Ferret Lover's Rescue,
Maria Wallace.  (Maria than contacted us.) Jennifer has said that the
ferrets need to be out by Monday or she is taking them to the Humane
Society in Cocoa.
 
Maria has agreed to work with Jennifer tomorrow in getting the 56 ferrets
into her home.  She can house them for one week, hopefully giving
everyone in Florida a chance to help her.  Maria will be able to give us
a better description of all the ferrets (age, sex, medical condition,
etc.) once she has the ferrets in her care which should be this Sunday
evening if not Monday morning.  I have agreed to coordinate what I can
as Maria does not have e-mail and has "been out of the loop a while".
She does have next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off.
 
What we need to know is what shelters and ferret folk in the state can
handle- even if it's only 1 ferret or two or five... We also will need
volunteers to pick up the ferrets and deliver them to shelter..  folks
with large cars and vans are a plus!!  The pick up area will be
Titusville, where Maria lives.  If easier, we could perhaps get a car
load of ferrets and bring them here, to Orlando- but we could not get
all 56....
 
I know it's hard without knowing more details of the ferrets, but if we
start the ball rolling now, hopefully we will be able to coordinate by
next weekend.  I should be able to post again tomorrow (Sunday 9/14/03)
with more details.  Please feel free to e-mail me privately or call us
at 407-869-6981.  Unfortunately we will be out of town visiting Jason's
(shelter dad here) ill mother tomorrow- but I will return e-mails and
phone calls (if not too late) when we return.
 
If anyone is available on Sunday to help Maria with transport from Cocoa
to Titusville or even to house some of the ferrets temporarily (she could
also use cages badly) please feel free to call her at 321-268-0255.  Just
let her know you read the post by us and how you can help.
 
I know Florida ferret folk have pulled together before and hopefully we
can again.  I also know that I am new to the scene so any pointers or
help on the coordination end is much appreciated!!
 
Until tomorrow...
 
Michelle Alverson, President
Ferrets-N-Limbo, Inc.
A Non-Profit, 501(c)(3) organization
 
407-869-6981
[log in to unmask]
http://www.Ferrets-N-Limbo.org
PO Box 161432
Altamonte Springs, Fl 32716-1432
[Posted in FML issue 4270]