I don't understand why any moderator would allow the sort of posts that
are frequently seen, with people publicly trying to hurt others either
personally or professionally.  I have been scanning the posts for a while
now, and have been amazed at how everyone seems to be at each other's
throats--mainly shelter posts, or other people affiliated with shelters
in some way.  I noticed that one reader sent in a post that she was fed
up with the nature of the posts and was withdrawing her name from the
list.  I suspect that many on the list are doing what I do, just scanning
to see if they are mentioned by name or company, but would not want to
contribute any posts.
 
[Moderator's note: While your question may be a valid one in general,
there was more to Alicia's post that some realize.  For one, it was sent
back for rewriting.  But more importantly, you knew she was posting it
and invited her to do so.  I'm not involved enough in this situation to
even attempt to guess if Alicia has valid comments and it wouldn't be
"fair" for me to take sides, so the readers can make up their own minds.
And I'm glad you wish to voice your defense to help us do that.  But I
do feel the original post was appropriate.  BIG]
 
I knew that Alicia at Ferretwise was going to post to FML and probably
anywhere else that she can think of after I got her insulting email.
Since this post was put up yesterday, I am going to start a hugh thread
of posts probably by responding.  But here goes:
 
If you go to my website at www.carolinaferrets.com, or
www.carolinaferrets.net, you will see the age that the ferrets are being
sold.  The bottom line is that the vets determine the appropriate age for
the surgery, not me.  They do the surgery for a number of private ferret
breeders, not just me, and do an excellent job.  If a kit looks too weak,
too small, or has any health issue, they do not do the surgery.  I leave
that entirely up to them.  Most of the kits are 8-10 weeks of age, but a
female kit can appear much younger.  A six week old male of mine is often
as large as his mother if it is a small litter and the kits are very well
nourished, and most of my jills are bred to have small litters.  My local
vet does an excellent job with older ferrets, but prefers not to descent,
so ferrets sold this time of year are usually 4-5 months old and neutered
just before being sold, or after being sold.  This is apparent on my
website if anyone reads it with an open mind.  The kits start being born
in early May, and anyone who has preordered a kit from me will have a
story to tell of waiting and waiting to get the kit--I have seen that as
a complaint on FML.  This is because I am letting them grow.  I say on my
site when someone preorders that they will have to be patient.  I begin
taking preorders in January, and then breed the jills and hobs according
to the orders for colors that I am getting.  Some people want a kit from
a particular jill or hob.  This way, the first 100-125 kits born will be
placed into homes after the surgery.  The later kits are allowed to grow
until they are sold or go up for sale, which for most is around 4-5
months of age right now.  My local vet does that surgery, and he neuters
but does not descent.  Some of those kits can be seen on my website now.
Around Christmas, I do my final selection to see which males I will keep
as breeders, and then sell the rest as very large, very handsome neutered
males.  I have used this system for several years now, and it works
really well except that people do have to wait for months if the order
comes in during Jan-May, since I am a seasonal breeder.
 
Now, persons who want to go on a witch hunt and defame other people will
find anything to say and say it.  In addition, they tend to point out
that they are far better in some way than the person that they are
attacking, as if justifying the attack, and you can read her post.  I
have heard it all.  But then, so have a lot of other people.
 
A lot of bad feelings are out there because of all the negative posts on
the FML.  Some people have dropped their name from the list, as those of
you know who read it daily, because the FML gets misused by persons
wanting to flame other people.  The person, Alicia of Ferretwise, who
wrote to bash me professionally and personally, emailed me and I emailed
her back.  I did not say anything negative about her publicly, and I am
not going to.  I do not think for all the bashing I have taken, that
anyone can find any post where I have lashed out at other people
personally or professionally by name.  In fact, I do not go to forums
very often because I am so busy.  Certainly I could give my opinions of
other people, because I do not agree with many things I read that other
private breeders do and I do not always agree with certain shelter
policies or practices.  But I am not going to argue about anything in a
public forum and I am not going to bash or flame people, because that is
not the sort of person I choose to be.  While this leaves me vulnerable
to attack, I just don't want to compromise on what I believe in.  I
believe that when I get to Heaven, God is not going to ask me anything
about my pets or whether or not my house was tidy, or whether or not I
made every school committee meeting.  He is going to ask me how I treated
my fellow man, his children.  I do not believe that people who are
mean-spirited towards their fellow man can be kind-spirited to animals.
 
Like many other people who raise ferrets, I too have a full time job.
I am a mental health professional, and counsel people with behavioral
abnormalities and personality disorders every day.  How sane is it for
someone to send me thousands of dollars in orders for collectibles
forging my name?  How sane is it for someone to go online August 15th,
and order magazines and put my young daughter's name on the order?
People read the posts put up by persons attacking others, and the attacks
are not limited to just one arena.  In fact, it can and will promote
gang-type behavior, which is a scary fact.  The FML can be a dangerous
weapon (and the writers of posts know that ) but then the internet itself
is frequently used as such, as can be demonstrated by the links that
Alicia and others give.  I have plenty of emails from people who love my
ferrets and order again and again.  I do suspect that the ferrets that
went to Ferretwise were not as well cared for as most prior to their
arrival at the shelter, because the new owner was called into service
in Iraq, and had to leave on short notice, which would require a lot of
attention to be put elsewhere.
 
From my understanding, he could not get in contact with me right away,
and needed an immediate placement, and so he did what he thought was best
and took his ferrets to a shelter.  I have been reading with amusement
about the discussions of biting ferrets.  I am far more curious about
the best way to cure biting, aggressive humans.
 
--Kathy Jordan, Carolina Ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 5021]