I have stayed out of all of this because I am in FL, and know nothing
of the actual conditions, animals, or people involved. However, the
following comment needs a reply:

>First of all, there are those who say they've been there. Some say the
>conditions are fine, others say they are not. *Someone's* not telling
>the truth. I don't know who is or isn't, but how can it be both ways?

There are a couple of possibilities to this that involve no one lying.
Again, remember, I don't know the situation, so I'm trying to stay as
neutral as possible.

First possibility: the conditions vary from day-to-day or week-to-week.
It may be that the girls are there to help clean up only so often, and
when they do, it's a much better situation for the ferrets. Or the
family has a cleaning cycle where if you walk in one end of the
building it would look great and on the same day if you walked in the
opposite end, it would look bad (that end being due for cleaning that
day).

Second possibility: differring definitions of what are acceptable
conditions for ferret housing. Folks who live in places other than the
US have kept their ferrets in outdoor hutches for centuries (I'm sure
this was done in the US, too, for a while, but not usually recently).
This practice continues to this day in a lot of places, and is not
necessarily bad for the ferrets (no flames, please, I'm just talking
about health-wise, not socialization or mental stimulation). But those
of us who spoil our ferrets, giving them their own room, tubes,
scents, toys, etc would see that same situation as harsh.

It could also easily be a combination of both of the above, plus more
that I haven't thought of.

tle had a great idea yesterday - have a third party go in. There are so
many good sides to this. They could take pictures that both sides agree
are accurate. The right person could be told to take both the best and
the worst that they could find. There is one negative I see - DM and
his family would have notice and could make it look its best, so it is
possible that the true situation wouldn't be observed. But it's still
worth the effort.

OK, I suppose I'll stop my rambling there... No flames, but honest
debate is always welcome.

Debbie

[Posted in FML 5540]