This God-awful abuse case is beyond incredible. I'll try to make it
short, but Jesus God-in-Heaven, this just about goes beyond belief.

Monday afternoon, I receive a call from a man in Harrisonburg, VA.-
actually Elkton VA. He had finally caught his neighbor's ferret, which
we learned had been left behind after this piece of s**t neighbor had
MOVED AWAY THREE WEEKS AGO. His children had mentioned that they kept
seeing a rat. Sadly, a blaze, mitt-mutt "rat".

This kind-hearted man sounded really "country"( Kris in Waynesboro
arranged to pick up the ferret, since Billy-Bob's car "had done blown
up"). Even so, he went online, and apparently called a few animal
shelters- he was turned down several times- A shelter in PA. gave
him my number- I'm guessing it was Mary? from PA Ferret Shelter?

When he called me, he said right off, " I found a sick ferret. It won't
eat nothing." I don't know what to do". I gave him Kris in Waynesboro's
phone #- she picked up this poor little girl within 45 minutes.
Skeletal. Raw bottom,rectal area. Limp. With a body-temp of 98. Kris is
a LVT, and she stopped by her vet's to have her vet look over, started
on antibiotics, gave sub-q's, started an IV and placed on a surgical
heat pad. Kris then stayed up all night with this 4-6 year old little
blaze mitt/mutt girl. No tattoos. She started to slowly feed homemade
duck soup, a few cc's at a time. Kris said the girl actually had
started eating kibble on her own around 2am., and that nose and gums
had regained some pink color.

Kris fell asleep at 4am. She panicked when she woke up at 6am, and
found that the little girl was pretty much comatose. Her temp never
got above 98, despite the heat pad. She called me in a panic- we tried
a few more desperate things- rubbing the ferret to stimulate her, karo
rubbed on her gums... but while I was on the phone with Kris, she
passed away.

Kris is sobbing...I'm trying to tell her she did EVERYTHING she could
have, and Thank God, at least this little girl was warm, safe and not
alone when she went.

Fast-forward to this afternoon- 48 hours after Kris picked up the
ferret. The poor guy who had caught the ferret was being threatened by
the P.O.S. owner- who had resurfaced, pissed off and claiming that his
ferret had been stolen by the kind-hearted guy. P.O.S. said he would
sue.

We flew into action, called Rockingham Animal Control, the local SPCA,
the vet who had seen this ferret...Turns out Animal Control had
previous run-ins with him. Chained, emaciated dogs. God knows what
else. Kris regrets that she didn't take any photos- but, hell, she was
just a little busy. We have everything here documented, including the
cost of the vet visit, antibiotics and take-home Ringers that Kris paid
for. Kris even thought about digging her up to take photos- FYI, she
weighed 6 ounces. Yes, I said 6 ounces. She was an adult. Approximately
4-6 years old, judging from her teeth, and that she still had mitts,
blaze and bib. Some roaning. Can you believe this? I left Billy Bob a
message, letting him know that he was backed by several agencies. And I
believe that the death of a companion animal, which in VA includes
ferrets, death resulting from abuse, neglect, etc., is a felony. Hard
as hell to bring to court, but in 2005, we did have a ferret abuse case
where the county's prosecution attorney charged this woman with abuse.
It was reduced to a class 4 misdemeanor and she paid fines. But she WAS
picked up at her 3-story home, on a Sunday afternoon in front of her
neighbors, family, etc.

She was handcuffed, led to a squad car and taken to the courthouse for
process, because She neglected to show up for her initial hearing, and
an arrest was issued. Small consolation.

I just had to blow off some steam. If I knew this guy's new address,
I'd already be on my way up to visit him. I can't even think of
anything bad enough to call him.

We'll just have to sit back now, and wait to see what happens, and if
we can help bring this guy to court.

If anyone would like to contact Kris with any words of comfort- she's
really taking this one hard- she feels like she is responsible for
fixing ferrets- not losing them. I know how she feels- I cry over each
and every shelter ferret I lose. It's the sucky part of sheltering.
After 11 years of sheltering, I still get upset when I lose a ferret.
Our awesome vet always tells me that the day I DON'T get upset, this is
when I should stop sheltering. Kris's email address is Kcoski@
comcast.net.

Thanks for listening.

Sad in Virginia..

Marlene Blackburn
Director
RFRL

[Posted in FML 6339]