"Should a shelter take in another ferret when it doesn't have funds for
surgeries for current shelter residents?  What is that ferret will suffer
a terrible fate otherwise?"
 
"How do I know when it is time to let my ferret go to the rainbow bridge?
Should I spend hundreds of dollars on medical treatment that has only a
small chance of being effective?"
 
"Is it right to buy a kit from a pet store?  Should pet stores be allowed
to sell any live animals?"
 
"Is it ok to buy products from a large impersonal ferret farm?  What if
that product suits me and my ferrets perfectly?"
 
"Should small breeders continue to breed when there is already a surplus
of ferrets needing homes?"
 
Unfortunately, these questions cannot be answered "Yes" or "No".  There
are no "right" or "wrong" answers.  Each of these is a complex issue with
many facets, many valid opinions, and many more questions that arise when
you try to answer them.
 
Good people with best intentions and kind hearts can disagree, often
vehementally, on these and other issues.  They can still be good people.
 
Please remember this as you debate these and other issues.  Feel free to
question the person's reasonings and to state your own opinions.  But
please be careful about ascribing motives and making personal attacks.
This is not to say some people don't have alterior motives, but I think
most FMLers Do have good intentions and DO want to help ferrets.  We just
have different ways of doing it.  My way may not be your way, but that
doesn't mean it's a bad way!
 
Just something to think about as you read and respond to posts.
 
Linda Iroff
Oberlin OH
[Posted in FML issue 3989]