Last night (Saturday)I was doing the 'sub' thing at the mall job.
Naturally, after work, before going home I rotated towards the mall pet
store.  I know, I know, dangerous ground.  I walk in towards the ferrets
and there they are, all cramped and fighting.  Next to the pen stands a
man with about a three/four year old girl and another little girl about 7,
maybe.  This little girl is saying Daddy, I want a ferret, I want to pet a
ferret, look they're fighting.... The man stops a fellow who works there,
asks if it would be all right if the girls pet one.  This young man pauses,
says, well, I can't be sure they won't nip the girls.  Then the father asks
if the ferrets would be good pets, that the girls would like one to play
with, carry around, how are they as pets.
 
By now I'm slowly stepping towards this conversation, literally holding my
breath.  This young man looks the father in the eye and tells him-they're
nice as pets, but perhaps your little girls would do better with a kitten.
Ferrets are quick, they like to burrow, and they may not like being carried
so much.  About this time I excused myself into the conversation and told
the father that they are high maintenance pets, not for everyone, that he
would have to ferret proof his house, if they have a couch the ferret
might get in there and be crushed.  The father immediately switches talking
about a kitten and the oldest girl is daddy let me pet a kitten, lets get
a kitten!  The salesman sends them up front, and then we engage in a
conversation that raised my spirits.  I apologized for stepping in and he
thanked me.  Said he'd like to know more about ferrets and he got flooded
with information!  I gave him the web site for Ferret Central, told him
about the FML, Dr. Bruce Williams, etc, diet, intelligence, illnesses.
Gave him my name and number should he need to contact someone with a
question.  So yes, there are people working in pet stores that do help
and are concerned, I got to watch this first hand yesterday!  The ones I
run into normally don't give a rat's patoot about the animal.
 
And this leads me into something else.  There is a person who is on this
list, doesn't post often because she doesn't have a lot of time to do so.
I know all shelter operators are like this, or at least we hope they are,
but this lady and her husband are close, personal friends of my family.  We
met when she had posted about a rescue she had looking for a home.  I had
just lost Nibbles, a rescue I had done, and I answered her post.  We all
drove at least three hours one way to meet, spent almost that much time
talking in a restaurant, and our friendship was born.  At that time neither
she and her husband nor my family had the groups we do now, but hey, that's
fate and ferret math, and the desire to help fuzzies.  She and her husband
are godparents to my fuzzies(as are several others folks here on the FML).
Without her three in my group wouldn't be here with me-the one personal
rescue of hers, two more she assisted in getting to me.  I personally know
of Macari and Maharet that she assisted in getting to their human, Sandy,
plus many others I don't know of, and I know that Sandy adores this woman,
also.  The day my Socks left me, she sat on the phone with me for over an
hour, talking and crying with me.  I've talked to her many times, through
emails and phone.  The last time they came to visit her husband, who is
highly allergic to cats, sat on our couch, cradling our big black cat to
his chest, loving him, while tears from his allergies poured down his face.
 
This lady has given round the clock care to her own and to other people's
ferrets, and I mean round the clock, and has been totally sleep deprived,
but yet willing to do so to help that one ill fur child.  Up every hour or
two hours to feed, she's put towels around them to assist them in walking,
she's held her babies as they've gone to the bridge, been in shock when one
suddenly leaves her.  She has gone to the pet store in her area and rescued
the sick, the weak, the almost dead.  She's brought one guy literally back
from the jaws of death when his bowels wouldn't work, and through her
ministrations she saved his life.  She has, unannounced and unasked,
assisted folks with bills, sent many gifts to many shelters.  She has sent
people to veterinarians on her recommendations, to make sure they got the
correct care.  She sends hammocks to folks as gifts, for shelter raffles,
and I know of some 'Down Under' girls that will be experiencing this luxury
soon via her assistance in a 'care package' for another of my friends.
 
During Ferrets 2000 many folks wound up in this couple's hotel room getting
their 'fuzzy fix', while playing toss the ferrets with all of them.  Bob
Church even mentioned during his talk he'd seen a group of adults turned
into giggling children while playing with these folks' ferrets.
 
I guess the incident in the pet store Saturday brought her to my mind for
the umpteenth time that day, because this couple is never far from my
thoughts.  And so I would like to pay a public tribute, not only to all
the folks who care for the sick, the lost, the hurt, the shelter shocked,
but to my dear and close personal friends, Helga and Harvey Clark, two
angels in disguise.  There are, at this moment, 16 pairs of fuzzy paws, 6
pairs of cat paws (even Sateen the kitten, who doesn't know her Aunt Helga
and Uncle Harvey) and one pair of kitten paws applauding and saluting.
Helga and Harvey, my family salutes you again, we think the world of you,
and I wanted everyone to know this.
 
Rebecca & the Crew of Merry Mayhem
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy, and =
 taste good with ketchup"
[Posted in FML issue 3508]