Dan and I do alot of ferret awareness days at pet stores and various
rescue events.
 
I have come to truly dread the tween girl, too young for boys and to
old for toys.  They seem to fall in love with fuzzy animals.  We see
the ones who absolutely love the ferrets.  I suppose it could just as
easily be dogs, cats, rats or guinea pigs.
 
Education days are hard on the ferrets.  They get over excited about
being there, and often try to sleep with their eyes open so they won't
miss a thing.  Generally we try to keep the sleepy ferrets crated and
away from the play pen where the more active ferrets are.  As the day
wears on, all of the ferrets get sleepy.  The sleepy ferrets are left
in the playpen, where they can be seen.  We ask they not be touched.
 
It really takes knowing your ferrets to determine whether or not they
become nippy and cranky when they become over tired.  I admit I used
to take ferrets who got cranky and nippy when they were tired, because
I could close them up in a crate and let them sleep undisturbed.  Now
I can't even risk those ferrets.  It leaves me with a much smaller
pool of ferrets that I can take out.
 
Back to these girls who just "love" the ferrets.  They open cages and
crates of sleeping ferrets and pull one out, while your attention is
elsewhere.  They leave and come back and leave and come back.  They
never seem to show up when the ferrets are awake and alert.  Only
when the ferrets are tired and the people doing the education day is
distracted.
 
I've done 2 ferret education days this month.  I find these girls more
and more distracting.  Dan has commented on these girls and the problems
they cause as educators to the public about ferrets.
 
KG
[Posted in FML issue 4648]