>From: Danielle Frye <[log in to unmask]>
>To Sandi Ackerman, please provide where I can go to obtain this newsletter
 
I provided you and everyone with that information in my post.  (It's
certainly not a secret, I suspect that many, if not most of the FML crowd
received that newsletter, certainly everyone who has ever purchased
directly from them received it.)  But here it is again.  You can obtain
that newsletter from the company which published it.  ie: Performance
Foods, you can locate their address on their web page.
 
From my post: "See Issue Number 17 (June 2001) of the Totally Ferret
Newsletter,"
==============================================================================
>addressed the preposterous notion of MF "fakes" being so widespread. I
>have Petco Managers who can verify that the MFs are shipped from MF not
>another supplier or distributor.
 
First Danielle Frye is not connected to any of the established ferret
shelters here in Washington state.  (While she may not be directly stating
that, there seems to be numerous implications in many of her posts that
she is "connected" to shelters here.  It's possibly shelters in other
states that she's referring to.) By established; I mean those of us with
a business license and an existing 501(c)(3) that have been in the ferret
rescue business for numerous years.  There is one unlicensed "shelter" who
operates out of an apartment here in Seattle, perhaps that is her
connection with "shelters".
 
I don't see anything "preposterous" in the fact that their are numerous
MF "fakes" running around the Pacific North West.  Unlike Danielle's
experience, the PETCO stores we are in contact with are aware that there
*may* be some problems with the source of their ferrets and seem not to
care.  Except for the occasional posts from one FMLer's who claim there's
a problem, that MF is trying to fix, I'm not sure that I care either
whether or not they are "fakes." They are all ferrets in need.
 
MF sells through numerous distributors, and when PETCO orders through a
distributor, and they do for a variety of reasons, PETCO is told that they
are purchasing MF ferrets, they are given a bill of sale and a legal right
to those ferrets.  They feel, and I agree, it's not up to them to police
the USDA licensed animal dealers.  As far as the PETCO District managers
know, MF has never contacted them to indicate that there may be a problem.
 
Surrendered ferrets: We frequently see "copies" of MF paper work which has
been given to the purchaser, even when (what appears to be) "real" MF
ferrets are bought.  When checking with PETCO, we are told that sometimes
the MF paperwork does NOT accompany the ferret shipments (lost, all sent
to another PETCO or whatever) and so the stores are told to just make
copies of previous certificates.
 
I will speak for my shelter only and say that we do take in lots of
ferrets each year (94 so far this year, a "lot" by my standards) and we
*are* seeing MF "fakes".  I currently have five in my shelter, complete
with "copies" of the MF "Ferret Guarantee" card that lists their
"Guarantee #" and copies of the MF Health Certificate, which includes the
"Consigned to" information.  IE "Petco" and the store #.  I haven't kept
track of how many "fakes" we have seen.  And, by the way, have no way to
really know if these are "fakes." it's just that the tattoos are NOT the
standard MF tattoos that I'm familiar with.  The tattoos are in different
places, of different sizes and are "blurred".  In order to try to obtain
that information, I did send MF an e-mail with some of the information and
sort of expected that they'd ask for photos of the ferrets (ears) or some
additional information, but (my only source of agreement with Danielle) I
did not hear back from them, so my assumption has to be that they either
already have the information, or that we're too far away for them to
bother doing anything about it.
 
Sandi
PS: (When I say "copies" I mean photo-copies, NOT original documents.
Much of the time, when individuals turn in ferrets and their paper work we
see the "original" documents, such as the yellow Ferret Guarantee card.)
 
Best Little Rabbit, Rodent & Ferret House
   dba House Rabbit Society
a non-profit animal shelter
14325 Lake City Way NE
Seattle, WA 98125
(206)365-9105
Open 7 days/week or visit our on-line store at:
http://www.rabbitrodentferret.org
[Posted in FML issue 3627]