>From:    Don & Janice Boyle <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Please Stop
>To all breeders;
>Please stop breeding more ferrets.
 
Your view is far too simplistic.  There is not a ferret over-population
problem the way there is with dogs and cats.  There is a distribution
problem.  Shelters need to break the chain of people buying from pet stores
and then throwing away their pets when they get to be burdensome.  There
will ALWAYS be a need for shelters even if pet store ferrets were to go away
completely.  Things happen that make it necessary for ferrets to be put into
shelters.  It isn't necessary to decide what is and what is not a legitimate
reason.  There definitely are some and its not "our" job to decide what
those are.
 
It is our self-chosen job to help all ferrets that need help.  It is what we
who run shelters got into this for.  No one made us open shelters.  We chose
to and we need to realize exactly what we chose to do.
 
>I understand that there was a waiting list several years ago for
>people to buy ferrets.
 
There still is.  We get far far more requests than we have ferrets.
 
>The answer is for the ferrets to stop being bred.  There is no other
>answer.
 
Wrong.  We ferret folks need to learn from the cat and dog folks perhaps.
The neuter/spay programs with dogs and cats ARE working.  Slowly perhaps but
most definitely working.  Local shelters used to put down all exotic
(including ferrets) because they had too much to do just taking in dogs and
cats that had a minimal chance of adoption.  But the crisis there is abating.
 
The removal of pet shops from the sales of pets is also working.  Folks
SHOULD get pets from shelters and local breeders.  It is helping cut back on
"puppy-mills" and it can work with ferrets.
 
Whining about pet breeders (not the specific note as it wasn't whiny just
misinformed in our opinion) won't solve anything.
 
If all private breeders were to stop than we'd still have the large
ferret ranches.  This is where most of the shelter ferrets come from
(well most of nearly any class of ferrets).
 
If we were to shut down the ferret ranches right now than ferrets as pets
would return to the days of the seventies when they really were exotic.
 
Perhaps if you agree with our assessment you'll see the "answer" is to
reduce the influence of the ranches to even perhaps phasing them out when
there are enough local breeders to handle the demand.  This woudl be best
done by working WITH your local breeders and encouraging folks to get
ferrets from them rather than pet stores.
 
We who breed ferrets are not evil nor are we the cuase of the problem.  Most
of the shelters in this area (Northern VA up through Pennsylvania) are run
by ferret breeders.  Some of the "shelters" in this area are neither
shelters nor breeders but just trouble makers.  Some are breeders
masquarading as shelters.  But by in large the vast majority of ferret
breeders are good for ferrets.  They are the REAL leaders of the ferret
community especially if you add in the ranches.
 
>Please go into another line of animal sales.
 
Other animals are no less deserving than ferrets.
 
>Please stop the suffering.
 
Please really think about the situation and really understand the problem
before you blame folks like us.  Yes we do it it personally that you are
coming down on us for all the ills besetting ferrets.  We do quite a bit to
help ferrets in general and in specific.  Despite the FML's self
congratulatory attitude over the past month this on-line stuff is really
still in its infancy.  It is a very good tool but it is also misleading.
This list is dominated by shelters and folks that have no other source of
information will miss all else that goes on.  The vast majority of ferret
owners do not know about this mail list just like they do not know about the
AFA or LIFE.  Nor about the local clubs.  But by in large the vast majority
of ferrets DO live happy lives in their original homes.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2174]