The subject of whether or not a shelter should ever say no when
contacted by a kill shelter has gotten a number of comments on both
sides of the argument, and many people have made good comments on
the subject without resorting to flames.

I will make one last comment for myself.

Perhaps the entire situation could have been avoided, had there been
some better communication between the shelters in VA.

When the 2 shelters who said no were contacted by the county animal
control, instead of saying no, they might have said that while they
could not taken in the ferret or ferrets, they would check around and
see if there was someone who could. And, with checking with other area
shelters, they might have contacted Marlene, and the end result would
have been the same without any need for controversy on the FML.

On the other hand, when Marlene was contacted by the county shelter,
knowing there were shelters closer, instead of criticizing those
shelters on a public forum like the FML, she could have contacted the
closer shelters to see why they had said no. I don't know who the
second shelter was, or what their reason was, but if she had contacted
Robin, she would have learned that Robin had surgery on her hands, and
was currently closed to intakes because she was at the absolute limit
she could properly handle given her current situation.

I can understand Robin's situation. In the last 2 years, I have
had 2 surgeries on my right shoulder, putting my right arm and hand
completely out of commission for several weeks each time, and I am now
facing a third. I am lucky - I have a husband willing to help with the
ferrets and even with caring for me. There were periods of time during
my recovery where I couldn't even fix my own meals or pour myself a
glass of milk - let alone feed ferrets and care for them. If I lived
alone, I would have been in serious trouble.

It always makes more sense for shelters to work together, and to
contact each other privately, rather than criticizing each other
openly in a public forum.

We will never all agree on everything, but that doesn't mean we can't
get along and try to work together. We all do what we do for the sake
of the ferrets. Generally the people who accomplish the most and do the
most good are the ones who work quietly in the background, doing what
they can. They don't really care who does or doesn't know what they
accomplish - they simply want to do what they can to help ferrets. And,
while there are exceptions, I generally find that the people who feel a
constant need to boast about their accomplishments and criticize others
for what they haven't done are the ones who are more talk than action.

If there is a lesson to be learned from all this, it is that shelters
need to network more, and try to communicate and work together.
Shelters that network with other shelters will always be more
successful in the long run than those that don't.

Danee DeVore
ADV - If your ferret hasn't been tested, you don't know!
For more information visit:
<http://www.ferretadv.com>
ADV - Find out how you can help:
http://help4adv.terrabox.com/

[Posted in FML 6627]