Thank you Heather!  I definitely appreciate the nice feedback and hope
that others will view this the same way as you!  Thanks for cc'ing me on
your post.
 
On the issue of being shipped too young, I did tell Peter that it is of no
benefit to them to do this because those that are shipped too young are
often (not always) kept in a back room of Petco for a couple of weeks and
may or may not be getting adequate care.  I also told him that PETCO does
not order more until they are out.  So where is the advantage to MF in
shipping them this young?  Nowhere.  He even agreed that older kits have
a better chance of survival and are less dependent than the really young
ones.  In fact, he went on to tell me that often the young ones will
revert back to "nursing" as a result of stress.  I hadn't thought of this
and then remembered a few posts about people experiencing this behavior.
He seemed to really be concerned about the young shipments so maybe if he
takes my reasoning to the board members, they will finally "see the
light".  I could not post ALL of my two hour conversation with him,
because it would have been too long.  Once I compile my "book", I am
ccppy to share it privately with others.
 
Still, the frustration for me is the fact that all of this would be
considered "hearsay" because they will not respond in writing.  He told me
that I could email him my concerns but that he probably would not respond
because he is "too busy".  I don't like this at all, but what can I do?  I
did ask him why, if so many people like MF ferrets, would he be concerned
with any backlash?  He told me that people have read things into stuff in
the past.  I don't see how that is any different than what is already
going on.  It looks to me that they just don't want to "damage" themselves
by putting this stuff in written format, because they can always deny
verbal conversations.  It becomes a he said, she said ordeal.  Not
satisfactory in my opinion.  At least I got him to admit they euthanize
retired breeders, but again, he could just deny what I am saying.
 
Sukie has repeatedly suggested I focus on all farms.  I plan to, but most
of my experiences have been with MF.  It would not be fair for me to state
otherwise.  I wont make stuff up about other farms just to "equalize" the
efforts.  I don't doubt that other farms are just as bad or worse.  I just
believe that changes at MF (the largest distributor) will be the best
example of what one can accomplish.  If anyone would be willing to start
compiling information and reports on the other farms (Triple F and Path
Valley as well as a few in Canada I know of) that would be great!
 
Heather is right, I cannot do all of this by myself, but I have started the
ball rolling and I plan to implement change.  Are you ready to take action?
 
Thanks.
[Posted in FML issue 3631]