Dear FrettchenVolk [G] Ferret People,
Wie geht's? is an informal querry one might hear in Berlin, and is taken to
mean: How's it going (with you)? ["W" is pronounced as "V", as Vee]
My answer, at my age, is: Well, the gates alright, but the hinges are sure
getting rusty. Ha-Ha; chuckle, chuckle.
To speak of kinda funny things, I'm reminded of a front page picture of a
winner at the local pet show here in Seattle: 'twas a photo of a cat. This
prize winner cat had big, big ears like a fox - absolutely gigantic ears.
And, it eyes were as big as those of an owl, huge eyes.
But, get this: it was stark, bloody naked. Or, at least so it looked; any
hair it had was mighty sparse. It's chest was quite small, but its
hindquarters and belly appeared ungainfully large and distorted. It looked
anything but lithe and swelt. True, beauty lies in the eye of the beholder,
to be sure, but this poor creature was just plain UGLY.
Its picture in the paper was there possibly because it was an unusual cat.
It was bred over many generations to look the way it does. It was bred over
many generations to look the way it does, because some hewman (actually a
woman) wanted it to look that way. Her reason for wanting a cat of such
gross appearance (gross to me) is (?) - who knows? I don't know; the only
thing I do know is that I do not like the idea of people breeding animals
(cats in this case) to produce the "unusual," the distorted, disgusting and
dimensionally disfigured.
So one might ask, who are the people who want, who work hard, to produce
such abhorent caricatures of naturally good-looking, species efficient
animals? The answer my friends, is anybody who produces, supports,
endorses, or upholds animal shows. This most certainly includes ferret
shows.
We are yet early in the historical development of ferret shows. Most of
these shows are run by women, the fair sex. Aye matey, be they fair, they
are truly the most deadly of the species, and I cite Rudyard Kipling:
When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws,
'Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale,
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
To deny that species modification pressure is applied as a direct
consequence of ferret shows is patently absurd. We have already seen it in
the tragic development of the so-called "angora" ferrets, and with
catastrophic results.
If you have 1/2 ounce of love for the ferret, I urge you to boycott, to
abhore, and to travail against any ferret show wherein breed anomolies are
held aloft as the supreme goal. Seek out the ferret that is improved in
behavior, intelligence, compatability, longevity, health hardiness and
affection, rather than in appearance solely. It's so sad that the typical
ferret show esteems the latter primarily.
And certain as night follows the light, keep aware that where the blue
ribbon goes, there goes the money trail. Blue ribbons, without too much
effort, can be shown to be the path to exhorbitant prices for the
DNA-mangled ferret. Without a doubt, it's greed, exhultation, pride and
societal preeminance that goads the ferret showist: to wit - I'm (my
ferrets) better than you (yours are).
Finally, consider the true heart of the human being who has been recognized
as a superior ferret breeder and may have a wall full of blue ribbons. If
she really has in her heart the improvement and health of the ferret
species, she would not charge an arm and a leg for her kits, but would
contrairly offer samples of their bloodline (at cost plus) for the
world-wide improvement of all ferrets.
Sorry, but true I fear; it's not in the nature human, especially the female.
Ab imo pectore. [L.] From the bottom of the heart.
Edward Lipinski, Frettchenvergnuegen from the Frettchenlustbarkeitsfuehrer !
Frettchenvergnuegen [G.] Joy of Ferrets. F...fuehrer [G.] Ferret frolics
leader.
[F]erret [E]ndowment for [R]esearch,[R]ehab, [E]ducation & [T]raining
[S]ociety, NorthWest.
[Posted in FML issue 2222]
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