>Of the many many ferrets they breed, occasionally a very small number of
>them are shipped too early.  This is an infrequent mistake.
 
Yesterday's FML also included a post from the director of The Educated
Ferret shelter which is the local shelter quite close to where I live.  As
you can see from Donna's post, a few years ago we were not having much of
a problem with too-young kits; they were arriving between 8-10 weeks of
age, with all their teeth, in fairly good health.  The slightly younger
kits started showing up about three years ago on occasion, and at first
it WAS chalked up to accidental, but now it is a given that the kits will
arrive with just fuzz on their pink skins, no teeth, with respiratory
distress because they were much too young to be shipped.  This is a
documented observation and Donna has contacted Marshall Farms about this
issue on many occasions to no avail.  And it's not been seldom, or a very
small number, or limited to our area.  It's happening here in
Massachusetts almost weekly, and Danielle is posting from Washington with
the same information and experiences.  It's not an isolated problem.  It's
widespread and it's growing, not stopping.  And it's not being done in
error.  It's been reported directly to MF time and time again by myself,
by people I know, by shelters I have worked with.  MF has not been
interested.
 
It irks me when people disbelieve or downplay the problem of too-young
kits being sent to stores just because they haven't seen it for themselves
(and seriously, if you don't work in a pet store or a shelter that gets
called to help with these situations, how WOULD you ever get to see it
or hear about it other than through other people's experiences??).  As
I mentioned, and Donna's numerous experiences confirm, the Petco in our
area keeps the babies in the back and cares for them (with her help) until
they're strong enough - and old enough - to go out on the floor.  No one
besides the store employees and the rescue people ever see the hairless,
toothless, sick babies.  Locally we've gotten to the point where almost
every shipment is like that, and calls to MF get a denial or a brush-off.
And it makes shelter moms feel very angry and frustrated when they're
holding a tiny, trembling, hairless 4-week-old MF kit in their hands and
someone at MF is smoothly assuring them that they never ship them under 8
weeks!
 
In some of these instances, it's necessary to rely on the experiences of
others to make a point.  Most people will never see what the baby ferrets
look like upon their arrival to the store.  But those who have seen it can
share information that is very valuable.  When I read about other people's
experiences on the FML, sometimes I may take things with a grain of salt
because working with animals, especially rescue animals, can certainly
give people a bias, but I do not dismiss people's experiences as invalid
just because I haven't been in a situation where I would have them myself.
That's just silly.  You can learn a great deal from the things other folks
have seen and been through, particularly when we are all joined by the
common bond of loving ferrets so deeply that we set aside time to
contribute to the FML and share our feelings.
 
I often rely on other people's experiences to learn and form opinions.
There are things that I will never have the opportunity to see, but
through other people's stories I can learn about things that are out there
that I want to take an interest in, and change.  I have never seen with my
own eyes people starving in the streets in war-torn Bosnia, and I myself
am not starving, but through my Bosnia-stationed brother-in-law's stories,
I learn about things that are going on that I cannot see, and I take an
interest in them and desire to do some small part to change things for
the better.
 
-Heather
[Posted in FML issue 3625]