I'll be right up front and say that I'm an animal mill hater. That said
I'll try to stick to what seem to be the facts and then explain why I
dislike mills.
(1) There are lots of different types and sizes of ferret mills or farms.
Marshal Farms is just the biggest and most well known so most people refer
to them the way some people call "copying" "xeroxing". There are other
large farms in Canada and the U.S. though none probably as big, that
sell to retail. There are also small breeders that sell to retail.
(2) There really isn't that much known for sure about MF as they are a
family owned private business that haven't to my knowledge responded to
requests for detailed information other than disclaimers about reported
problems with health. I get the impression that employees sign a "gag
order" though admittly this is one thing I can't claim for sure.
(3) However they do seem to have the pet store market fairly well cornered.
Estimates are they breed something like 80,000 ferrets a year and even ship
to Japan.
(4) They also I believe breed beagles for research labs as well as sell a
percent of their ferrets to research labs.
(5) My understanding is that several ferret rescue organizations have
tried to get MF to hand over some of their breeders who will no longer be
used for breeding because of age etc. but to my knowledge this has not
happened.
(6) They ship kits at about 6 weeks of age although their have been reports
here of seeing younger at pet stores. So they spay and neuter when very
very young since they are shipped already desexed as well as de scented.
There are some things that can be extraploted but aren't facts. If (this
is by far from exact) , under artificial lighting you could say get a
female ferret to breed 4 litters a year, and each female had say 8 kits
live and they produce 80,000 the math comes to......2,500 females plus
some males, plus the kits that are around for up to 6 weeks. A pretty
big operation. Pretty wearing on the females too.
That said I don't like any type of breeder, small, large, dog, cat, bunny,
ferret etc. that breeds a COMPANION animal for profit. It is cheaper to
raise and breed a new animal than it is to nurse a sick one - all sick
breeders are most likely put to sleep. All breeding animals that become
non producers - most likely put to sleep. In order to be profitable at the
size that MF is I'm quite sure they take pains to keep the animals well
fed, water'ed and do their best to keep them disease free. However you can
almost guarentee that these companion animals never receive human attention
beyond the basics. Cages and bedding kept to a minimum and only of a type
that easily cleans - no hammocks that need to be washed. No toys that need
to be disinfected. No out of cage time ever. That said I know from
personal experience that some smaller breeders that have USDA licenses to
sell to retail are far worse. But two wrongs doesn't make one right. Its
a warehouse, a factory, they might as well be making toys. When broken or
uninterested - take to a shelter, give away, let loose, have put down,
leave behind when you move, put in basement and ignore.
Most dog breed organizations have a Code of Ethics that breeders are
supposed to live by - not selling to retail is usually one rule because
you don't have control over the future of the animal you brought into the
world. To breed only the best, healtiest animals and sell animals that do
not meet that criteria on spay/neuter contracts. To take back what you've
bred should the homes have some misfortunate befall them and be unable to
keep the animal. To keep that animal till another suitable home can be
found. These ethics were developed to help keep breed populations healthy
and to keep pet overpopulation from becoming a problem. I concur with
these ethics and would only deal with breeders that do - obviously large
organizations such as MF do not. They are too large to know whether the
pet store they ship to keeps their kits in poor conditions or have any
regard to the types of homes they go to. Let me finish by saying that no
one has anything against MF ferrets themselves, only the organization that
has so little concern for their animals welfare. In terms of producing
well tempered ferrets they seem to do well.
As an interesting side note - I just happened to experience MF kits
yesterday when I had my dog at the vets. I go to a large clinic that the
pet store uses to do an initial health screen on their MF kits. I walked
in and Lo and Behold - 3 wooden crates sitting on the counter in their
shipping crates ready to be examined. Each box was constructed of a
plywwood floor with 2 x 4 sides. Hardware screen rounded over the top
gave an approximate clearance of 5" to 5.5". Crates were approx 12 x 16
or 18". Each crate held 12 kits. A new shiny small tin can was attached
to a corner in each one for water. Wood chips (not cedar) intermixed with
MF food was the bedding. They stack on top of each other. A white label
was affixed to each one. From memory the paraphrased instructions to
airport workers were - "these animals are used to small enclosures and do
not require exercise" also "they are used to varying temperatures" "do not
remove from enclosures" and "other than long delays in shipping they do not
need to be fed or watered, in the event of long delays do not fill water
more than 2/3's. Canned cat food can be used to feed" It would be hard to
get them out anyway as the hardware screen is tough stuff (this is not like
window screen) and nailed to the 2 x 4's.
The kits were cute - but then all new toys are.
Mary, Booker and the fuzzbutts too
"If you don't rescue - don't breed"
P.S. for those of you unaware of the puppy/cat mills that exist to breed
for retail - do a web search and be prepared for the unimaginable.
[Posted in FML issue 2714]
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