>There are a few of us that are confused concerning writings on the FML..
>Over the last few years, it has been written on the FML that the research
>done by Marshall Farms has given us so much info on ferrets?  We cannot
>find any indication on the web that the puppy mill does ANY research.
 
You know perfectly well that Marshall Farms does not do research - you also
know that MF does breed ferrets for lab research.  You know also that the
research conducted on the ferrets bred by MF has benefited the ferret
community with vaccines and medicines.  No one has ever suggested anything
differently.  And despite knowing that truth, you or your group suggest
that they have.
 
>There is plenty of documentation of the terrible conditions there.  We
>realize from reading the various USDA citations ,and from the News Reports
>documented that hundreds of thousands of ferrets have been kept isolated
>in small cages or jammed so that ferrets seem to swim over one another in
>cages that they cannot walk in because of the wiring, the rusted sharp
>metal poking out into the cages, and that the ferrets forced to breed over
>and over again have lives and deaths we could not want to imagine.  We
>know lots of horrible stuff.
 
But you always fail to report that the seven violations cited over and over
result from the August 1993 USDA inspection.  You also fail to report that
in the February 1994 inspection the USDA found all violations corrected and
noted that fact in their 1994 report.  In other words, only half of the
facts have been presented - only those facts unfavorable to Marshall Farms.
The fact that they corrected those violations has been strangely ignored.
Presenting only part of the truth still amounts to a lie.  Citing old
violations as current violations is not exactly the truth, either.
Presenting the same citations from multiple sources do not amount to
"plenty of documentation." It only amounts to repeating the same incident
over and over.  The practice amounts to a deliberate campaign of
misinformation designed to present Marshall Farms in a negative light.
Who is the unnamed "we" who know lots of horrible stuff?  What purpose do
"they" have to provide the public with inaccurate information?  Why are
"they" unnamed?
 
>I think it is important that we fully understand what this puppy mill does
>if we are going to write to Congress and not look silly or frivolous.
 
How does anyone look responsible and serious by knowingly presenting false
and misleading information to anyone, let alone Congress?  All veracity
is lost when anyone knowingly misrepresents facts, presents outdated
information, omits crucial information, and distorts the truth to further
an agenda.  It is impossible not to look silly and frivolous when
presenting out-dated information and deliberately hiding half of the
facts.  There is no nobility in any cause or campaign that engages in a
deliberate pattern of deceit and misinformation.
 
No one writing to the FML has ever suggested that MF, like any business,
has not had problems.  They have had problems.  They have also worked to
correct the problems.  No one writing to the FML has ever suggested that
there are not practices at MF that could not be improved.  But, creating an
atmosphere of hostility and animosity is not the way to get MF to willingly
listen to the ferret community's suggestions.  In the long run, those who
have deliberately engaged in the campaign of distortions, half-truths, and
outright lies against Marshall Farms are doing more harm than good.  It is
long past time for that to change.
[Posted in FML issue 3178]