I've been following the MF debate with interest and it seems to boil down to
two issues
1) MF ferrets are suspected of being prone to adrenal cancers because of
   either
     a) Genetic predisposition or
     b) Early altering
2) Suspected bad treatment of their breeder ferrets (e.g.  killing off
   retired breeders, caging ferrets permanently)
 
Number 2 can only be proven if MF opens it's doors, so I will leave that one
alone.
 
Number 1 could be tested.  How about the following experiment:
 
A statistically significant group of baby ferrets is obtained.  Being a
former pure and applied maths major I don't know how many that would be.
Any statisticians out there?  The ferrets would consist of the following
groups
  A) Marshall Farms ferrets altered at the MF normal age
  B) Marshall Farms ferrets that will be altered at a later age
  C) Marshall Farms ferrets that will remain unaltered
  D) Privately bred ferrets altered at the Marshall Farms age
  E) Privately bred ferrets that will be altered at a later age
  G) Privately bred ferrets that will remain unaltered
 
These ferrets would be housed in the same kind of environment and fed the
same food to eliminate environmental factors from the experiment.  The
health of the ferrets would be monitored over their lifetimes.  The results
should be published in a reputable scientific journal.
 
This should give a good indication as to whether early neutering causes
health problems or whether Marshall Farms ferrets are more likely to get
adrenal disease.  As I said before, I'm not a statistician, and I'm not a
biologist either.  Is there anyone out there who is who can say whether this
experiment would be valid?
 
Of course there are obvious problems with doing an experiment like this.
The first would be the cost of buying all the ferrets to start with.
Unaltered MF kits would have to be obtained.  Enough non-MF ferrets would
have to be obtained.  The ferrets would have to be fed and looked after over
their lifetimes.  And the results of the final results of the experiment
would only be known when all the ferrets were dead - in perhaps ten years
time.
 
Is there anyone out there with the knowledge, experience, time and money to
perform an experiment like this?
 
Kylie
 
Kylie Preisig, Perth, Western Australia
[log in to unmask]
First Aid Officer, WA Ferrets and Ferreting Society
The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employer.
[Posted in FML issue 1989]