Server down for over 24 hours now. Don't know quite when will send this.
 
 G. A. Christian Bilou wrote:
>I have to wonder...with all the bad feelings and general controversy
>surrounding Marshall Farms, what on earth would anyone hope to gain from
>forging their tattoos and certificates?
 
The bad press is only on the internet so most people never see it.
 
The bad press often exaggerates so badly that many skim it, missing the
real stuff because it's clouded by the unreal stuff.
 
Folks know enough about puppy mills that even much of the general public
can figure out that backyard breeders (the puppy mills of the ferret world,
not the responsible private breeders) are to be avoided, so they need to
fake source.  What is easier in some areas than trying to hide within the
crowds from farms?
 
All that buyers can do is to make sure that the tattoos and warranties
match (or in case of PV that the warranty looks okay since they don't
tattoo, unlike MF, Triple F, or Hagan) and that these appear to be real.
 
The worst parasites on the ferret community are backyard breeders.  They
scam some sellers of ferrets (and may work with some others since it's
hard to believe that distributors don't know better, ditto some stores
possibly), they cheat buyers since their ferrets are often badly inbred
stock and sometimes complete with parasites or disease, they put shelters
in a bind with sick turn-ins and crowds of ferrets when they close down or
are closed down for any reason (See FML archives for heart rending stories
about the Fredonia Rescues, Xmas rescues, and many more.), and most of all
they hurt the ferrets through lack of care and irresponsible breeding.
Read sometime about the ones in broken rusted cages in sheds with one
family, all inbred, waste never removed, living in sheds in which many
die during weather extremes.  Heck there was one in Canada who was feeding
chicken feed when he didn't have money for real food; see the archives.
It is heart breaking and disgusting stuff.
 
Such places do not need the ferrets to live long lives; they only need them
to live through one breeding cycle, or two if lucky.  Before the FML I
recall a woman in NJ who had about 80 ferrets, all very, very inbred and
when she was asked how long they live she said "Oh, a year or two..." like
that was normal, and those ferrets were inside.  Now, I do expect that
those outside ferrets likely are great for temperature extremes, but not
for much else, health-wise.
 
Yes, there are places out there which make the farms look like heaven in
comparison.  Don't take my word for it; read the archives.
[Posted in FML issue 3452]