I haven't seen this idea posted yet.  A friend of mine and I were discussing
what happens when ferrets are legal in California and pet stores are allowed
to sell them.  My friend suggested that we contact the pet stores, and ask
them to issue a certificate to potentional ferret owners.  The certificate
can be redeemed after the owner wanna be's have taken a class offered by a
local ferret group.
 
In reality I doubt any pet stores would do that, but you never know.  If
nothing else, maybe at the time of sale a certificate could be issued
offering them a free class on the care of ferrets.
 
If we can't encourage pet stores to stop selling ferrets, we can at least
encourage them to help educate new owners, and take the burden off the store
by letting local ferret clubs offer the classes.
 
Chris
[Posted in FML issue 2381]