I just wanted to add my own two cents here as far as it goes for getting
rid of a pet.  Although I can appreciate and understand *some* reasonings
for giving up an animal, there are definitely ones that are inexcusable.
I too come from the line of thinking that once one has made the decision
to have a pet, that the responsibility is one for life.  It comes from
seeing people use animals as a disposable commodity... a thing to be
bought and traded off, given away or worse.  It also comes from the line
of thinking that you do not take on more than you can handle, and if
you're not sure, you wait until you are.
 
I have seen animals used as a way to teach young children the "facts
of life", only the kids didn't realize that they were being taught to
propagate a very old tradition of causing overpopulation.  They were
completely unaware that they would also follow in their parents
footsteps of filling local Humane Societies and learning how to be less
compassionate to those that have no voice.  The parents of these children
had good intentions in their actions, but they did not realize that they
were one link in the chain if ignorance.
 
In my short few years of volunteering with a ferret shelter, I have heard
a variety of "reasons" that people have given behind surrendering their
so called beloved ferret.  "No time".  Well, what did you think you were
getting into when you bought a ferret in the first place?  "I'm going
through a divorce."  I'm sorry to hear that, but where are you
surrendering your children?  "I have to move and the building I'm moving
into doesn't take ferrets."  Well, find one that does... they are still
out there.  "I'm getting married and my spouse-to-be doesn't like
ferrets."  Call me in a few years when you find out there are other
things your spouse doesn't like and you finally realize that you made a
mistake in choosing a partner.  "I'm relocating to a city that doesn't
take ferrets."  I'm sorry, but I didn't see someone holding a gun to your
head.  "It wasn't what I expected.  The ferret poops too much and it
smells."  Hello... did someone just turn a light somewhere?
The list goes on.
 
The fact is, we all make choices.  Having a pet should mean more than
finding an easy excuse to get rid of it once circumstances change.  I
have seen the stress the ferrets go through when separated from what they
thought was their home for life.  I have seen them get so depressed they
don't want to eat.  I have seen the sadness in their eyes when they
realize their life has changed.  The saddest fact of all is that it
didn't have to be this way.
 
It is important for parents to start teaching their children that animals
have feelings and that they bond to their human counterparts.  It is
important for parents to teach responsibility from the get go, as in,
"You wanted this animal... you must now look after it for the rest of its
life.  No exchanges.  No trading it in for something else.  No dumping."
If we started doing this, then we would be preparing the youth of
tomorrow to make more serious choices and understand the consequences of
their actions.  We would be teaching them that spaying and neutering *is*
the new fact of life.  We would be teaching them to choose wisely... that
the choice they make will be their responsibility for the lifetime of the
animal.  We would be teaching them that when they get ill, they see a
vet, and we prepare for the inevitability by putting aside money.  We
would be teaching them that they are a living, breathing creature,
capable of so much love and companionship.  We would be teaching them the
value of priorities and choosing them wisely.
 
Don't get me wrong... I'm not referring to situations where the ferret
is better off away from it's owner.  I don't think it takes a rocket
scientist to point that out.  But also understand that a situation of
bad ownership stems from the lacks attitudes we have today on how pets
are treated.  If we did a better job of teaching our children all the
implications of having a pet, and all that it means, then our society
would not have the same issues we have today.  And you better believe
our animal protection laws would have been changed a long time ago.
 
What we need is a new direction.  Start with the children now so that
companion animals of the future have a fighting chance at not being
bounced around, left behind, or abandoned.  Teach the young to respect
nature, and you will have planted the seed that creates a forest of
caring providers.
 
And I can't wait to see that forest.
 
betty and her blur o'fur
for the love of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 3876]