Amen to Kim Fox!
 
At one point in my life I contemplated opening a ferret shelter.  It
seemed like a noble thing to do and I did, of course, love my fuzzies.
And then ferret math hit and I added one to my two and then one to my
three and then two to my three and so on... sigh.  At one point I had
five bouncing crazy fuzzies and the requisite poop they produce, a food
thrower who spoiled every water bowl in moments, a climber who could
liberate even the highest placed bag of treats, two ankle biters and a
sock stealer (who particularly like to chew out the toes).  I then had
three adrenals, four insulinomas, a lupus like illness (in the ferret,
not me) and one that died due to a spontaneous blood clotting issue.
I've had four sweet babies die in my arms and three that died without
me.  (Either way rips your heart right out.)
 
I had my hands full with just five at one time!  I haven't the faintest
idea how anyone takes on the physical, mental and emotional challanges of
a shelter that holds many, many times that.  I am outraged by the storied
shared on here of the deplorable conditions in which these ferrets are
found.  I am heartbroken by the abuse and neglect we read about on the
FML.  How much worse it would be to see it in person!  To have to fight
through filth and stink and horror to take out a tiny innocent only to
see that baby die later.  To have to be civil to people that cavalierly
say, "Oh, we just don't have time for it anymore" when "it" is an 6 year
old sweetie they've had since kithood.  To have to face the confusion and
heartache of an abandoned fuzzie who really doesn't understand why their
world has been undone.  To start the day with poop patrol and end the
day with poop patrol and fill all the intervening hours with poop patrol.
To take on loads of laundry so these poor kids will have sweet smelling
hammies to curl up in.  To constantly worry and stress over where the
money will come from.  Ferrets are expensive.  Very, very expensive in
their final days especially.  I worried even with just my five that I had
planned the bank account properly.  How do you plan for those unexpected
ferrets that show up bald and shivering?  How do you plan for an influx
of 20 ferrets a breeder decides are "no good"?
 
How on earth anyone could flame a shelter?  Even if you think they are
the dumbest person on earth and that their methods are all wrong, how
could you flame them?  If you think they are dumb and methodically wrong,
by all means go give them a hand and discuss (not demand/argue/beat into
them) a new way of doing things.  But, by golly, you better be prepared
to stick around and help out.  You better be prepared to donate time,
money and supplies to help out the cause.  You better be ready to take
home a couple of foster kids, or better yet, a couple of permanent
babies.  Because Kim is completely right- no matter what these shelter
moms and dads are doing that you don't agree with, they are still
providing a better situation than what faced the ferret without them.
They are still providing clean beds and warm, full bellies.  They are
still providing play and stimulation and fun.  They are providing
surgeries and medicines.  They are staying up all hours of the night to
spoon duck soup into the weakest and neediest of these castoffs.  They
are providing love, buckets and buckets of love, to sweeties that so
desperately need it.  And in the process of doing so are carrying the
load alone.  A heavy, sickening load of stress and worry and despair.
 
Ferrets, all ferrets, have a way of burrowing down deep into your soul.
Each time I have loved one and lost that baby, it has broken off a chunk
of my very tender heart.  I cannot fathom doing it over and over and over
again and then willingly signing up for more when the next batch comes
through.  Shelter moms and dads are God's very hands here on earth loving
those that need it the most.  They are to be honored and revered and
supported.  Not flamed.
[Posted in FML issue 5380]