To Rick Lemker:
>Come on, Mr. Davis, you *must* realize by now that not everyone with
>a MF ferret wears a black hat.
 
Absolutely.  Black hats belong to the people who continue to buy ferret-mill
ferrets from pet stores, AFTER they learn about the inhumane treatment that
goes into the production process.
 
>I'm willing to change my murderous ways, but the boycott doesn't seem very
>realistic to me.
 
I think and hope that a lot of other people, like you, will think twice now
before buying MF (Path Valley, other mills too) at the pet stores until the
company changes its ways.  Enough people to make a difference?  Don't know.
The effectiveness of a boycott would not be a simple yes-or-no proposition.
It could be less effective or more effective, and it would depend not only
on how many potential ferret buyers were reached, but also on how
energetically pet stores and pet store chains were lobbied, and on how upset
MF might be about having its image tarnished.  Also, if image tarnishing
matters to MF, it might -- though I am not necesarily optimistic -- be
amenable to negotiating some changes to try to avoid being tarred.
 
>Who decides when a particular ferret has reached its natural end? I don't
>know that either.
 
For most ferret owners, at least other than those who get socked with
humongous vet bills they can't afford, I think quality of life is the
touchstone-- when the ferret is completely miserable almost all the time,
and has no decent prospect of improvement, then it may be time to consider
putting him or her down.  Commercial operations may have different
standards.
 
To William Killian:
>Many of the east coast breeders are having big problems with their jills
>being unable to get pregnant at all.  A purely speculative theory of mine
>is due to the coincidental timing of the ECE epidemic...
 
I've certainly observed the same puzzling phenomenon, plus an unusually
high incidence of birth defects One ferretwise vet I talk to a lot is very
upset about it and even volunteered the observation "It's like we're
sitting on a toxic waste dump." But ECE could certainly qualify as a
suspect.  Your hypothesis seems worth further investigation.  Maybe Bruce
Williams could shed some light on whether viruses might leave some internal
damage that affects the reproductive cycle.
 
Pennsylvania show:
For those with WW Web browsers, registration info, including eligibility
rules for championship and specialty rings, for the LOS show, Ferret Fiasco
95, Saturday October 7 in Croydon PA, has been uploaded to the LIFE home
page- http://www.csc.peachnet.edu/~rpoore/HDavis/life.html.  All
registrations must be received no later than September 15.
 
Howard Davis
[Posted in FML issue 1308]