Many of you have heard me say that my first ferret, Sammy, survived
by the grace of God. In January one of the incidents was recalled in
Ferrets Magazine. Yet, it is only one of the incidents he survived.
You see, Sammy came to a home where I wanted him to know freedom.
He had been kept in a cage for years and his owner didn't want him
anymore. So, I would open the cage in the morning and let him out. He
would then crawl under a credenza and go to sleep. My brother, with
whom I was living (it's okay - we were in Arkansas), would come home
later in the day and find him wandering around the house.

We had no idea that the house we lived in had a hole in the screen
door at about seven feet off the floor. One day I got up to find Sammy
was not in his cage and not in the house. I discovered the hole and
wondered, did he get out here? Yup. And, he could have run down the
hill to the woods - or across the street or anywhere else in the
neighborhood. Where did he go? Only 10 feet from the door to hide in
a neighbor's garden. Not once, not twice, but three times. Why didn't
I fix the screen? Well, I figured it couldn't happen again.

When my brother married a few months later, Sammy and I moved into
another house. This one was near a park and our neighbor had a
Rottweiler named Rock. Now, I figured Sammy could walk with me in the
park. And, he did. But, one evening he decided to explore under the
bush beside the walk. That was fine until I realized that he was not
coming out and it was getting dark. So, I dove head first into the
bush and grabbed him with one hand and held myself up with the other -
two feet sticking straight up in the air! Both of us survived, but I
needed help getting out of the bush!

Also, Sammy went to the wedding when my brother married - or at least
the hotel. For me it was a one hour drive and of course, Sammy went
too. Back then he was allowed to free roam in the car. I had a two
door Explorer and pop-out windows in the back. Headed toward Little
Rock, it suddenly occurred to me that the windows were open and I had
not seen Sammy. I pulled over on the side of the interstate. I am not
sure what I thought I would do. What if he was not in the car? How far
back would I have to go to find him? Or find his body? Or would I find
NOTHING? What I found was a little ball of fur on the floor behind the
front passenger seat. So, I shut the windows, made sure I didn't close
him up in the door and headed on to the hotel and my room. Think I
would learn, huh? Well, just ask the other ferrets who got to ride
with the windows open due to my stupidity! At night! On long dark
highways! Not caged! Hmmm, perhaps it was not just Sammy who survived
by the grace of God!

And, when we got to the hotel I let him run loose in the room. Guess
what he figured out? He could get UNDER the carpet. And, he did! He
ripped up the entire carpet in the room and I nearly couldn't get back
in the room. <sigh> I wonder what ELSE he got into there. Oh, and the
door opened onto the pool. Wonder what would have happened had he
gotten out THAT door!

So, that is my start. Believe me, I have a lot more stupid things up
my sleeve! Let's put our cards on the table. We have ALL done stupid
stuff from which we can learn. Let's make the world a safer place for
the ferrets, since we all have a responsibility to them. And, no
flaming those who step up and say "Hey, I did this. Hope you can
learn from it."  And, no trolls: http://www.flayme.com/troll/#What.

-- 
Renee Downs
"Eventually we will realize that if we destroy the ecosystem we
destroy ourselves." Jonas Salk
"The most effective way to do it, is to do it." Amelia Earhart
It's amazing how much can be accomplished if nobody cares who gets
the credit!
Ferret Emergency Response, Rescue & Evacuation Team (F.E.R.R.E.T.)
http://www.ferretemergency.org
[log in to unmask]
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org
American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org

[Posted in FML 6090]