I originally sent this as a private email, but then decided it was worth
a public posting.
 
You ask why people put down specific shelters and imply that it seems
far too easy to do.  A week ago I would have been voicing agreement.
However over the weekend I stayed with a shelter mom so that I could see
how two potential fosters got along with my guys.  Here's what happened
(as briefly as possible).
 
She promised to have the two potential fosters ADV tested even though
that isn't her usual policy.  I trusted that she had, and didn't find out
until we were leaving and the ferrets had been together for two days that
she "forgot."  (No apology, just "I forgot.")  I asked before I made the
twelve hour drive (each way) whether my guys would be exposed to anything
that might threaten the immune system of my elderly ferret.  She said no.
I asked the same thing before going into each of the two ferret rooms.
My ferrets are going home with fleas and have been exposed to ECE.  (She
told me that just before I left, too.)  So she repeatedly lied.  Her dog,
which she claimed over and over was safe, mauled one of my ferrets.  She
paid for immediate care (and won't give me the medical records), but
refused to do any more in the middle of the night when I called the vet
back with an emergency development and the vet told me he needed to be
seen right away.  When I insisted she call around for vets, she accused
me of being ungrateful and said I was treating her badly.  When I was
ready to leave with the fosters, she offered to give them to me (so it
obviously wasn't a problem of trusting me with ferrets), but refused the
foster arrangement we had made in detail before I made the drive.  And
it's not just my ferrets.  While I was there, I asked about why a certain
shelter ferret was locked up.  I was told "she shouldn't be," but this
shelter mom didn't go into the room and check until the next day.  At
that point, she herself said, that ferret had been left without food or
water for two days (though I'm guessing there must have been at least a
little water in there to start with or the ferret would have been dead).
There's way more, but that's the gist of it.  Upon my return, I found
that people who have been consistently supportive before this couldn't
even bring themselves to say a kind word about a mauled ferret, so I'm
pretty sure that a slanderous version of this whole thing has been spread
privately.  You'd think good people would at least want to hear both
sides.  But no.  That's what prompted this post.
 
You think we're way too free to criticize shelters on the FML, and like
I say I would have agreed with you before this happened.  Really, we're
not free enough.  Most people aren't free to criticize at all, no matter
what.  I should be shouting this from the rooftops to warn others.  But
she's a "bigshot" and I'm not.  On the FML and the ferret community in
general, little people who criticize--or even disagree with--bigshots
are pretty much committing suicide.  Which might not be so bad if I
thought anyone would believe me.  But from what I've seen people choose
who to believe based on popularity, so it would do no good.
 
In the mean time, I just have to watch someone get away with nearly
murdering my ferret while I treat for fleas, test for ADV, watch for
green slime, and thank God my ferret is still alive for now.  That's the
other side of the story.  I wish I hadn't seen it--I wish I still agreed
with you.
 
[RN]
[Posted in FML issue 5319]