>Now for the big question: Is this the first step down that slippery slope
>of species degradation where pressure upon a given species by show people
>for something "different" [Angora in this case] will ultimately sink a
>species, as has happened to dogs and cats; their having been bred for the
>widest spread of conformations possible and the horrible physical
>mutilations that resultingly have followed?...
 
I have been with the ferret shows since 1988.  As a "somebody" with the
International Ferret Association (IFA - now defunct), and League of
Independent Ferret Enthusiasts, I have always voted to keep the ferrets
where they are presently and originally designed.  Once, many years ago,
because there were not too many good looking shetlands (called blazes now),
the IFA wanted to lower the standards.  I said no - if patterns are going to
be bred, then they need to be bred to conform to a high standard - no kinks
in the tails, no crooked blazes, and no deafness.  It didn't stop the
breeding of patterns, but it did keep the wannabes out of the high sales
market.
 
Angoras have been seen at ferret shows - they get "lumped" into a category
called "experimental" with tangerines and black mitted whites.  The Angora
I've seen, so far, was just a long coated sable - easy enough to judge in
regular competition.  I'd count off heavily for turned up noses and hair
growing from the nostrils, just as I would for crooked tails, snaggle teeth
and offset ears.
 
I don't think Angoras, no matter how cheap they become, will become a
separate breed or be given special class in ferret shows.  It has taken
YEARS for breeders to come up with black sables, and they are all ferret.
 
Pam
[Posted in FML issue 2128]