There is a song where part of it goes, to everything there is a season.
And a time for every purpose under heaven. I never totally understood
this until a few months ago.

I have an announcement, to some it will be bad news, to some, well,
you know. But to every end there is a beginning.

Ferrets Unlimited Ferret Shelter has closed, I am retiring. I want to
be a ferret owner, and actually enjoy my pets, and enjoy my family.
Over the years, the shelter has put a major strain, not only on time,
but emotions, and family. In March I had realised that my personal
ferrets are all 5 years and older, and I really didn't give them the
time they deserve. (Now they look at me and say, YOU again?? We want
to sleep!! LOL !)

When what you love to do becomes something that makes you into a person
you do not like, it is time to retire. I didn't like the person I had
become over the last few years. Angry, I started to become very cold
towards people. After all, it is people who caused this poor ferret to
become homeless, or abused it, if they were surrendering a ferret, then
after all they didn't try, it didn't matter what they said, I would
just think, shut up, go away, you are lying anyway, quit trying to ease
your guilty mind. I started to actually see how I was alienating my
family too. That hit hard at Christmas 2007. My son asked us to come
visit for Christmas. Please come for Christmas. My kids don't ask for
much. But I couldn't. No one to care for the shelter. My family took
the back seat again.

In late 2007, I finally found a group of folks to be on the board of
FUFS . A great group. They roll up their sleeves and do what they say
they will. In January, my son told me of an opportunity opening up at
Quantico , a good job, but that would mean moving to Virginia. My
husband said go for it, my board said, go for it (I think they sensed
the stress in me). So I did.

I moved to Virginia in March, and FUFS became a foster network. But
staying at the reigns of even a foster network from another state can
prove rather difficult to manage. Driving to Ohio in the winter snow
isn't on my hit parade of favorite things to do :-) . And besides, I
will be the first one to admit, after being the one who made all of the
choices and decisions for over a decade plus, I had ownership issues,
too much of my personal life had been wrapped up in Ferrets Unlimited
Ferret Shelter. I thought I could separate but I couldn't. So it was
agreed that Ferrets Unlimited Ferret Shelter would close, and I would
retire (which I had planned on retiring), and Ferrets Unlimited Rescue
Services will step into place.

I know I have made lots of mistakes in the past. Some really bad ones,
some very bad choices, some were choices that were huge mistakes, but
this is not one of them. The board members of Ferrets Unlimited Rescue
Services are an incredibly wonderful, caring, intelligent group of
people, who will get things done. They are driven, and organized . If
they had been on the original board, I know things would be different.
But they weren't and I went charging on with both my good and bad
ideas, but that is the past and Ferrets Unlimited Rescue Services are
the future. A good future.

Let me tell you, the foster network they have in place is awesome, and
they all work together, they communicate, and they make it work. The
group running Ferrets Unlimited Rescue Services, are incredible. Smart,
knowledgeable, and they care. The ferrets in Northern Ohio couldn't
have a better group.

They had asked if they could retain part of the name, and I agreed,
since many of the animal control folks know the name Ferrets Unlimited.
I helps with the transition of one to the other. (Besides, the domain
has been paid for for the next 10 years I think, and the PO Box has
been paid up for a year)

I would greatly appreciate it if the ferret community and all shelter
supporters would be gracious and support the new Ferrets Unlimited
Rescue Services. There couldn't be a better group of folks to pass the
baton to. They are very hard working, and love both their personal
ferrets and the foster ferrets.

If you can donate, it would be most welcome. We all know that things
are getting very tight, and it is the same for shelters, and the
folks at Ferrets Unlimited Rescue Services. (Foster home ferrets like
Christmas too!)

You can send a donations to:
Ferrets Unlimited, P. O. Box 44012, Cleveland, OH 44144
or you can send them to the vet to help with medical care:
Avon Lake Animal Clinic, 124 Miller Rd, Avon Lake, OH 44012.
(If you send a donation to the vet, please be sure to put on
the donation it is for Ferrets Unlimited).

I thank you all for your past support of Ferrets Unlimited Ferret
Shelter, and hope you to continue to support Ferrets Unlimited Rescue
Services.

[Posted in FML 6163]