Hey Brenda,

Since you are in Rochester, I just wanted you to be aware of
something...

There is a woman who has been taking in free or low cost ferrets from
people and telling them she'll give them a forever home, but she
doesn't. She has been reselling ferrets on the Rochester and Buffalo
Craigslist for awhile. :(

Her name is Jeannie Adrian and she lives in Perry. She uses a few
different yahoo email addresses (so far I've seen her use these three:
[log in to unmask] or
[log in to unmask] or
[log in to unmask]) and her phone # is
585-237-[xxxx]. [Number edited. BIG]
 
This is how I discovered things:
 
Awhile ago, I was contacted by a gal named Jeannie because she saw my
"wanted" ad for a Ferret Nation cage and she emailed me asking if I was
still looking for one. I replied and said yes I am.

She told me she had a "friend" that had 2 ferrets and this friend was
moving to California, but since ferrets are illegal in California, she
was adopting her friend's 2 ferrets. Well, she said her friend had a
Ferret Nation cage, but that she didn't need it since she already has
ferrets and a large cage, so since she didn't need an additional cage,
and she wanted to know if I wanted to buy this Ferret Nation cage from
her.

I did go and purchase this cage from her and while I was there, I saw
the 2 ferrets she said were her "friend's" ferrets. They were in a tiny
cage in the same room where her own ferrets were in a large cage. I
asked her why they weren't with her own ferrets and she said she wasn't
sure she'd be keeping them after all. I thought that was strange since
she said previously they were her "friend's" ferrets and she'd be
keeping them for her.

As I was leaving, I went outside to put the cage in my car. A man and
woman walked up to this Jeannie and said hi and this woman had a ferret
in her coat that was peeking out. I asked Jeannie if she was taking
this ferret from the couple and she said no, that this couple came with
their own ferret to see if he'd get along with the 2 ferrets that came
from her friend.

Well, to make a long story shorter, that couple must have only taken
one of those 2 ferrets, because just 2 days later, I saw the other
ferret listed on Craigslist (both Rochester & Buffalo). I used my
husband's email address to reply to the ad since I had a feeling it was
this Jeannie lady posting this ad. She replied and said she was selling
this ferret for $50, and she described it exactly like the one I saw
there.

See, it makes me angry because this lady said she was adopting these
ferrets from her friend (if she is even her "friend") and instead of
keeping them like she promised, she sold their cage (to me), sold one
of the ferrets to one couple, and then sold the other ferret to someone
else! Sadly, she separated these 2 ferrets who were bonded and made
herself some money at their expense! Her friend (now in California)
left thinking her ferrets would be with her and they are not!

I've seen 2 other ads for ferrets over the past few weeks and have
replied to each one (using a different email) and both times, she
offered her name and her phone # in the reply email to me, but I
haven't gone to get any, I was just confirming it was her.

There is nothing that I know of that can be done on Craigslist to
prevent her from doing this, so the next best thing I thought of was
just to contact people who are rehoming their ferrets and making them
aware of what she is doing and that she may contact them.

It's obviously up to anyone rehoming their ferrets on what they want
to do, but most people who do care about the well being of the ferrets
do appreciate this information and don't want to give their ferrets to
someone who will just turn around and sell them off to someone else
while making money from them.

So, since you work with others who may need to rehome their ferrets in
the Rochester area, I just wanted you to be aware of this and have this
gal's information.

I wish there were something I could do to prevent her from doing this,
but I don't think there is. :(

Lakeroad Ferret Farm Rescue/shelter
www.ferretfarm.org

International Ferret Congress Vendor Coordinator
<http://ferretcongress.org/>

Petfinder Page
<http://www.petfinder.org/shelters/NY559.html>

Shelter Video
<http://www.kwflatbed.com/videos/ferretfarm.wmv>

[Posted in FML 6152]