Thanks to David Hollander for filling me in about Bruces situation.  I must
say, that is simply disgusting on so many levels.  Firstly, I have paid a
visit to Bruces place..  While it wasn't unexpected, he had about five
minutes to run around and clean up all these piles of poo piling up, and to
hide all these miserable, ill-treated ferrets..  I was introduced to some
absolutly wonderful, friendly and healthy boys.  Yes, the cages were a tad
small, but you find that in most breeders.  Yes, they were housed three or
so in a cage, but I'm sure they prefered the company to sitting in a cage
by themselves all day.  And while I say the cages were small, they were not
what I would compare with 'battery' cages.  They were adequate, airy and
had access to fresh air, and were very clean.  My Ramirez, one of Bruces
ferrets, is the sweetest, friendliest and most laid back ferret I've met.
From what I've heard, the same is true for the rest of his ferrets.
Strange, to have such a record of lovely ferrets, when they are so badly
abused... They all come with a little care booklet, and contact details for
the breeder if the owner has any queries.  More than can be said for a lot
of companies.  Then, why let the ferrets free??  Even if you wanted to help
them, why, oh why, not TAKE the ferrets and look after them?  Why let
them free into the wild?  This screams ignorance.  Lastly, this will have
devestating effects, not only on the status of ferrets in NZ, but a pack of
200 ferrets will have a devestating effect on the surrounding area.  Scraps
with local pets, scraps with people who corner them, wildlife..  Ferrets DO
have an effect on wildlife here, even if it is far smaller... And with such
a huge amount released, the chances of survival are far, far better.  If I
ever get the chance to get my hands on one of those stupid, stupid people.
People like that make me so angry..  Thats not animal rights.  That's just
disgusting.
 
Briefly, on the issue of the ferret store owner, trying to put the buying
off the baby ferrets, making outrageous claims like they are half-mink..
Has it not occured to anyone that maybe this person *isn't* an idiot?  If
you worked in a petshop, just an employee, and had no control over animal
conditions.  You see underage ferrets brought in, but couldn't do anything
directly.  To your dismay, some people apparently completely ignorant of
ferrets are looking interested in buying one of these kits.  You just
*know* something will go wrong.  What do you do?  The same thing I've heard
many other people on the list do when faced with a similar situation; try
to take advantage of the persons ignorance to put them off buying these
kits.
 
Of course, the person quite possibly was an idiot..  But it seems strange
to me a pet store employee would try so hard to *stop* people buying these
ferrets.  It seems more plausable this person didn't want these ferrets
sold for a good reason.
 
- Reet
[Posted in FML issue 3130]