Di Bachman was well known on the show circuits and not just on the East
Coast.  This is not the first time this has happened either.  Back in
1998 I received a phone call from a friend telling me that Di Bachman had
shown up at their house with ferrets in carriers.  She claimed she had to
get rid of her ferrets because her husband had threatened to open the
door and let them out into the woods, also that she could not afford to
take care of them any more.  My answer was, she probably wanted some new
bloodlines but had no room, you didn't fall for it did you?.  But she
had.  Mysteriously a week prior to this, 8 intact ferrets were picked up
wandering outdoors, in Hagerstown so they were probably DB's.  They were
picked from animal control by Vic McKimmey.
 
This turned into a sizable rescue.  Two more friends went to her house
to pick up some of the ferrets, assuming that ALL were in danger and
were going.  They were instructed as to which they could take.  These
consisted mostly of the old and ill.  They were distributed throughout
different shelters.  One particular ferret that my friends took had a
cough.  They took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with cardio.  This
was a breeder hob.  He also had insulinoma, and adrenal disease.  They
had him treated and neutered.  The medical bills for these ferrets was
very high as they had multiple problems and had no medical care while
with Di Bachman.
 
We were attending an AFA show in New Carrollton not long after this
rescue.  My friends were sitting at the table and I was on the floor
under it trying to put carriers together.  Who walked in?  Di Bachman.
She made the rounds and then approached the table.  She inquired about
her hobs.  Three of the people sitting there had rescued them and paid
their medical bills.  When she was dumping them, she was shedding
crocodile tears about how much she loved them, they were her babies.
Yet, this was the first time since they had them that she inquired about
them.  She wanted at least one of them back for breeding.  The one with
the cardio, insulinoma, and adrenal.  They told her of the problems and
asked why he was never checked?  Hadn't she heard the coughing?  Her
answer was that he had always coughed like that.  The discussion went
back and forth and my friends told her there would be no more kits from
these guys as they were neutered.  She threatened to sue them.  No THANK
YOU for taking my ferrets, feeding them all this time, taking care of
their medical bills, just I am suing because I wanted to breed them.  I
could not believe what an attitude she had.  Not one bit grateful for the
help everyone had so willingly given.  She was downright nasty, acting
like SHE was the injured party here.  She also felt that the shelters
were basically there to take what she gave them.  I was astounded.
 
The discussion was getting pretty heated so I went to get an AFA official
and asked if they could get her to leave before things got ugly.  They
did.
 
We presented all this to the AFA and asked that she be banned from
showing.  We hoped that if she could not show, she would not be able to
sell kits and would therefore stop breeding them.  The AFA banned her
permanently in 1998.  We asked other organizations to do the same, to no
avail.  Some did briefly until it blew over.  Others said we were being
political, we were afraid of the competition and therefore trying to get
rid of it.  All over the ferret community you would hear how unfair we
were.  She was railroaded by a bunch of political nonsense.  She was no
better or worse than any other breeder.
 
Things boiled over and another club decided to have a "hearing" between
Di Bachman and the people complaining about her.  Several emails went
back and forth between certain parties in this club and me on behalf of
my friends.  Most people who had a lot to say did not have the courage
to show up for this "hearing".  My friends did.  They wanted her banned.
The club did not.  She apparently contributed greatly to their shows over
the years.  Sponsoring rings, large entries..........they wrote up a plan
for her to follow, including inspections by this club and other things
that she had to comply with to be able to show.  The matter of the hobs
came up and she was told to reimburse my friends for their expenses and
she could have them.  She asked how much and when she was told, she said
keep them.  She could not afford it.
 
There was a show in MI shortly after this hearing, which by the way was a
waste, nothing was ever complied with.  She and another breeder rented a
vehicle and went to MI for the show.  Let's see........hotel, gas, entry
fees......but could not afford the medical expenses for her previous
ferrets.  To add insult to injury she bought a very expensive foreign kit
while there.
 
She never skipped a beat.  Just dumped all the old and was now starting
to collect new in other states where the news either hadn't reached yet
or if it did people were believing the rumors that it was political.
After all she was at all the shows with beautiful ferrets.  Who would
believe???
 
Fast forward to this club now having a show.  I inquired if she was
registered and allowed to show.  She was.  I wrote yet another email to
this club and asked how could they dare to let her show.  Did they think
it was fair for my friends who just spent hundreds of dollars on the
medical bills, food and care for her dumped ferrets that she couldn't
afford......... to sit there and watch her parade her new foreign kit
and others.......where did she get others???WHY was she buying ferrets?
Where did she get the money for that?  the money to show, and sponsor a
ring or two, and travel to MI??????  If she had suddenly come into some
money or she had gotten back on her feet, why not reimburse people for
the kindness they showed her.  She loved her ferrets so much, don't you
think that would be the first thing you would do?  Try to bring them
home.  (thank God she didn't).  I thought they were in so much danger
from her husband?  What he would not let new kits or foreign bloodlines
out the door??  Or the ones she kept????  It was like a slap in the face
to those who felt so sorry for her and helped her.  Unfortunately, the
club did not see it this way.  That was fine.  I emailed this information
to several friends who were planning on attending the show, and we all
agreed to stick by our friends and if she was allowed to show we were
withdrawing our entries.  Several AFA judges refused to judge rings that
she either entered or sponsored.
 
The next communication from the club was that she would not be attending.
I still refused to put my ferrets in any ring sponsored by her.  If I
won anything it would make me ill to look at it, knowing how her ferrets
suffer to feed her ribbon and trophy addiction.  So, everyone in the
ferret community was not blind to what she was about, the AFA was just
the only organization that had the courage to do something about it.
The shows that banned her briefly now let her back and you see the end
result.  Don't bet the farm that the ferrets in the garage were all she
has.  They were probably the ones that were no longer winning.
 
Pat Stauffer
Weasels
http://pages.prodigy.net/staufferp/
[Posted in FML issue 4226]