My SO and I attended a local event at Risley Moss just over a week ago.  I
had 'fun' trying to pack all the gear into our 42 year old Land Rover and
10' caravan.  Show cages, playpens, tables, goods for sale, literature on
ferrets, collecting boxes, 10' square marquee and 16 ferrets in travelling
carriers and any other boxes that would fit in the Land Rover.
 
We arrived at the park around 0930 and then had the job of unloading and
assembling the playpens etc.  The ferrets always get sorted out first as a
couple of them were in 'working boxes' used for carrying ferrets when out
rabbiting so they aren't all that big.  The ferrets were placed in their
pens, given biscuits and water.
 
We erected the marquee, put up notices, arranged the bits and bobs we had
for sale and awaited our first customers.  The kids loved the ferrets to
bits, Bumper, Fritz, Inga, Lily, Blackie etc were soon hard at work being
loved, cuddled and stroked.  Dax, Max, McCoy and Daniel were not called upon
to do much of this PR work as they are still a bit 'nippy'.  One thing we do
watch out for is anyone with a cold - most people seemed extremely surprised
that ferrets can catch the cold and 'flu virus' off humans.  We lost count
of the mothers with babies who wanted a photo taken of a ferret being held
by their baby in a pushchair.  Not for one minute would I advocate that a
baby and a ferret (or any animal for that matter) should be left
unsupervised by an adult.
 
We know that shelters in the States would never be able to let members of
the public have such free access to their ferrets but we raise most of our
funds with the 'stroke a ferret' promotion.  When our 'road shows' are
booked for an event we generally ask the organisers for a fixed fee or a
donation except in cases where the organisers are charities themselves.
Like most shelters we find that expenditure always exceeds income.  We are
still awaiting donations for the York and Risley Moss shows.  We have to
wait until the organisers have worked out their profits.
 
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare & Newsletter Editor of the
National Ferret Welfare Society of the UK
The opinions expressed by me are not necessarily those of the NFWS
[Posted in FML issue 1619]