>And as far as my dream for ferrets-if $200 to donate once in your whole
>life to ferret shelters [which is Only about 60 cents a day for one year]
>for purchasing a healthy ferret is too much for anyone-who cares?  Anyone
>can buy a ferret that comes from a puppy mill at the pet store..  No one
>ever has to give to a shelter or volunteer.
 
I wasn't planning on putting my thoughts into this discussion, but I've
been pretty disturbed by this whole thread.  I'm one of those people who
some people probably shouldn't think should have a pet at all, based on my
limited financial resources, and I have so much to say to this statement I
just can't keep my mouth shut.  Let's take it apart piece by piece:
 
>$200 to donate once in your whole life
 
Once in your whole life?  According to your plan, that extra $200 would be
included as part of the purchase price for each ferret.  So unless I only
had one ferret in my entire life, my final total would be much more than
200 bucks.  My current ferret count is 5, but one was given to me by a
friend whose circumstances forced her to part with him.  That means I
already would have paid out an extra $800 dollars...and since I plan to
have ferrets all my life, my grand total would eventually reach even higher.
 
>Only about 60 cents a day for one year
 
This "breaking down to the ridiculous" tactic has always bothered me, no
matter how good the cause.  Sure, it seems a ridiculously small amount, and
would be if you actually shelled it out day by day over the course of a
year.  But what about people who live from paycheck to paycheck?  $200 is
approximately my average monthly grocery bill...and given that I need to
live pretty strictly within my budget, spending the extra $200 for a ferret
would mean I'd have to do without food for a month.  And somehow, breaking
it down to the ridiculous doesn't work in this case: "Sure, my family can
go for a month without eating...after all, it breaks down to doing without
60 cents worth of food each day for over a year."
 
>if $200 to donate . . . is too much for anyone-who cares?
 
First of all, there's the fact that the cost of an individual ferret
wouldn't be inflated by merely $200 according to the plan you
outlined...the total cost would be $400 for the ferret itself, a $200
donation, and an additional $800 that would be returned to the buyer upon
spay/neuter of the ferret...but the points of the total cost you outlined
have already been eloquently addressed by others.  But as to who cares...
I would say the ferret lover or potential ferret lover who would be
prohibited from having a pet they would love because of the high price
would care a great deal.  Sure, the only people who would be able to buy
a ferret then would be those people who could theoretically afford their
care, but just because someone shells out megabucks for a pet doesn't
necessarily mean that they will provide the proper love and care that pet
requires.  If that were the case, there would never be a case of neglect
or abuse with any expensive animal...but ask anyone who works at an animal
shelter and I'm sure they can tell you just as many horror stories
involving purebred cats and dogs as stories involving alleycats and mutts.
A higher pricetag on a ferret isn't going to insure it against neglect or
abuse.
 
>No one ever has to give to a shelter or volunteer.
 
That's why they call it a "donation"...or in the case of working for a
shelter, "volunteering." Because it's done out of the goodness of one's
heart, without expecting anything in return except the knowledge that one
has done something good.  A mandatory donation, just like compulsory
volunteerism, is a contradiction in terms.  Don't get me wrong...I am in
no way putting down either donating to or volunteering at a shelter.  In
an ideal world, everyone would donate and/or volunteer to worthy causes,
but if these things are forced on them, you can no longer term them as
donations or volunteerism...and you're also depriving the person of the
emotional and spiritual benefits of doing something above and beyond what
is required of them.  I -do- donate to ferret shelters yearly, not because
I have to as part of the purchase price on my ferrets, but because I want
to, because I believe in helping ferrets.  And maybe my donation isn't as
high as the one you specify, but it shouldn't be the amount that matters,
it should be the thought behind the amount.
 
My .02 worth,
Lisa
Mom of Zorro, Claudia, Loki, Fezzik, and Crysin
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"When you say words a lot they don't mean anything. Or
maybe they don't mean anything anyway, and we just think
they do."
        --Delirium of the Endless
          in "Brief Lives," by Neil Gaiman
[Posted in FML issue 2696]