Happy Easter everybody...
 
Several of yesterday's papers had a story on ferrets complete with a picture
of a little boy holding it.
 
Wilbur the ferret ran out of his owner's home in early February and
was picked up by the North York Animal Control Centre.  Then turned
over to the Toronto Humane Society.  While the owner's (including
Wilbur's "Best Buddy" - a five year old boy) looked for it, one of the
employees at the Humane Society adopted it one day before it was due to be
destroyed.
 
The employee has refused to return it, stating that it had been abused.
"when she adopted the animal it had scabs on its neck and unclipped claws.
She also said an oily secretion produced naturally by ferrets had not been
cleaned off".  In contrast, the administrator of the centre disagrees,
"When we picked it up it was healthy, eating well and its eyes were clear".
And that the dirty condition of the ferret's coat may have been due to
newspaper bedding at his centre.  Besides, Wilbur's an albino - we all
know how fast an albino would look filthy.
 
I'm not going to pass judgement, because *I* didn't see the animal.
However, it's interesting what the employee considers as abuse - the scabs
may simply have been because the keepers at the Centre or the Society
placed Wilbur in with another ferret - if they were both males, especially
if one of the males wasn't fixed, it would explain the injuries.  Even though
the newspaper picture wasn't particularly good, Wilbur looked perfectly
healthy - *thick* coat and all.  Though, the kid wasn't holding it
particularly well...
 
As far as unclipped claws, and missing a bath (all of which might have been
the Centre's or Society's fault) go, that seems pretty shakey excuses.
Reminds me of one child custody battle where the social workers justified
the seizure of a child because of a few days worth of dirty dishes in the sink.
By those standards, few of us would be allowed to have kids or pets...
 
Besides, if there was abuse, why wasn't the family charged?  The owners have
dared the Society to charge them.
 
The family is going to camp out in front of the Society's offices in protest.
 
PS:
The wildlife co-ordinator and other animal care workers of the Toronto
Humane Society were quoted in saying that "they would prefer people not keep
ferrets as pets because of the difficulty of care and because they are natural
predators".  To which one would respond: difficulty of care?  Compared to
what?  A pet rock?  Natural predator?  Just what may I ask is a cat?  Just
*where* are they a "natural predator"?  Nowhere.
 
They seem to lack any great deal of competence - when we rescued Popcan
(baby least weasel) from a pool skimmer, they were unable to help, not even
to the point of suggesting anyone else who could.  At least the Metro
Zoo was able to make a few suggestions - it was our vet who referred us
to someone who had managed to raise and release one and was able to
give us some good advice.
 
PPS:
The Toronto Humane Society is in the midst of a several year long battle
because one of the local extremist animal rights groups loaded some meetings
and dissolved the board of directors, and then reinstituted it with their
own members.  Many of their subsequent activities are suitable for
publication in alt.bizarre.  The Ontario Humane Society threatened to revoke
their operational mandate/certification and the City pulled the majority of
their funding for a period of time.  Currently there seems to be a tense and
shakey standoff.
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0060]