Yes', I've seen this before.

I feel guilty because the first time I saw something like that, it was
at the Birmingham, Al zoo during the 80's. Ferrets were on display with
"facts" listed on the enclosure such as their diet was mostly eggs,
meat and some strange ridiculous things that I can't remember. The
information led you to believe that they might be wild animals. They
were in a sort of glass enclosure that was connected onto the outside
of a building. I don't know if they had heat and air. I was irrate at
the misinformation they were giving the public. However, I was a very
immature 22 year old and did nothing.

Out of guilt, I always told myself that from then on when I see
something like that I'd speak up. No matter what sort of animal it is.
I came across another situation involving a ferret here about 10 years
ago at our local zoo, but with a twist. I had known they had a ferret
there, but it wasn't on display as a wild animal or domestic farm
animal. He was indoors with other "exotic" pets people gave up and the
zoo took in. They used those animals for education, parties, etc. They
had close human contact and were cared for more like pets. The ferret
seemed healthy and fine, and their information they gave to visitors
was dead on, so I never gave another thought about it. We were well
acquainted with the head lady that ran the whole zoo, Darde Long. Darde
took Chet in as the youngest zoo volunteer ever at age 12 (you have to
be 16, but Chet was exceptional). Chet came home after his first day
really disappointed in the zoo and in Darde. He told me that the ferret
was fed some bizarre low protein kibble and was given a healthy dish
of cut up fruit and veggies every single day. They gave the ferret as
many grapes as it wanted. So, we ordered a large bag of Totally Ferret
and popped in one day to see Miss Darde. I brought Chet along so you
he could see how to handle delicate situations. I sat down with the
zookeeper, gave her a crash course in ferret nutrition. She was
skeptical of what I said at first. Had I not had references from so
many in the ferret community to toss her way, I don't know how
seriously she would have taken me. She quickly realized that I really
knew what I was talking about and so then listened to what I had to say
intently. She was genuinely shocked that they could have killed the
ferret. She accepted the food and said things would change. Chet kept
an eye out on the ferret and they lived up to their word. I'll always
wonder if they changed how they cared for the ferret because they "had"
to because Chet was there to watch over the little one each day, ya
know? But all in all it was a happy and positive experience for us all.

Okay I'm going to share something cool with you all about that ferret.
You've heard Sukie and I speak about practices in ferret keeping
spanning back decades and how ferrets raised on the worse of kibble
diets lived long healthy lives at times. Well, I'll take that back,
they lived healthy lives much of the time. And I never even saw adrenal
or insulinoma until the 90's long after people had drastically improved
ferret diet (and other basic care). It's a puzzle that today they are
riddled with adrenal and insolinoma despite the best of care. It's
particularly ironic (and annoying) to the two of us that some people
are obsessed with the food debates here as if they are fanatic
religious zealots considering what we know. Anyway, ready for the
kicker? That ferret ... raised on crap kibble of all sorts and cut up
fruit until it was 9 years of old (before we showed up)... lived to
ten years old with no adrenal, no insulinoma ... nuthin.

Wolfy

[Posted in FML 7122]