To most people, a ferret shelter is a place to dump their ferrets and
feel good about doing it, or a place to make a great deal on a ferret
and a cage.  To some people, it is a refuge from their problems at home
or school, or just life in general.  A ferret shelter is a place where
people take their bad decisions, financial difficulties, lack of knowledge,
and just plain ole laziness, and drop those things in someone else's lap
to deal with just because it is the easy thing to do.
 
To other people, is a place that saves marriages and relationships.  A
place that performs a great civic function.  A ferret shelter rescues
people from eviction, homeless situations, even loss of jobs.  A ferret
shelter helps folks go on vacation.  A ferret shelter helps kids get better
grades in school and teaches childrens of all walks of life the value of
life....and responsibility.... and unconditional love.
 
A ferret shelter saves people that are rich and poor.  Plain people and
eccentric people.  Intellectuals, and illiterates, healthy and physically
and mentally challenged, the weak and the powerful.  It is a servant to
more kinds of people than any other industry in the world.
 
To the very few, it is a place where the heart and soul perform countless
and thankless tasks.  Where tears and grief abound, and where love is in
abundance.  Without the abundance of love, the miracles that shelters
perform, the hard work and long hours, the patience, the nurturing, the
financial burden, the grief and tears, and the skills, would never be
enough to meet the challenge of living the life it takes to make a shelter
work, let alone be successful.
 
Before you become one of of the most, or one of the others, put yourself
in the shoes of the few and don't treat your ferret like an animal, but a
family member.
 
This post is meant to invoke feelings of guilt in the many who have what
they believed to be valid reasons for giving up their ferrets in the hope
that they will not make that error in judgement again.  Your family members
should have the same rights as you do, The right to be loved, sheltered,
protected from harm and mostly, the right to live happily with their family
until God decides when it is time for them to leave.
 
Goodnite and hugs to all,
Ferretguy
[Posted in FML issue 3211]