Here in Holland, I do re homing of ferrets that have been found; a few
weeks ago the animal ambulance rang me because a ferret had been found.
This was the second time this particular ferret had been found, he got
trapped in the door of a supermarket, He was in need of emergency help
from a vet.  He was covered in wounds, old a new, probably from a dog,
the last time he was found he was covered in wounds and these were now
infected, he had not seen a vet for the old wounds.  It was known who
the owner was, it was also known that once returned to that owner, the
ferret would not get the desperate help he needed.  He would live or he
would die, either way slowly and in pain.
 
My chooses were, return the ferret to the owner and forget about it, or
tell the owner that the ferret had died, then get it to the best vet
available and cover the cost.  What would you have me do?  Return it to
the owner, do you think that I would have slept better knowing the owner
was happy and the animal was in pain?  Maybe dieing or dragging it's self
around to reach food and water, I took the only chose open to me as a
ferret lover, I chose for the ferret and believe me, I have not missed
one minute of sleep worrying about the feelings of the owner, who just
shrugged his shoulders and didn't even want to see his dead ferret.
Sometimes the state of the animal when found can tell you more than a
thousand words and you can only handle to the silent words.
 
Stephenie Netherlands
[Posted in FML issue 4924]