I too was saddened to see yet another ferret that has not been taking
care of in a classroom setting.  My husband and I are the proud parents
of a classroom ferret.  In fact, he was a HIGH SCHOOL zoology project.
Can you believe that?  Let me try to make the story behind this brief
(which I know I will struggle with).
 
My hubby and I went to our local pet store to gather some kibble for the
other ferts we had.  We walked in, and there was a cage up front with a
single ferret inside.  He looked absolutely horrible.  So I asked an
employee about the ferret, and she said that the ferret (which they all
said was a girl) was recently brought in by some teenagers and he was
used a a school project at a local high school.  They were giving him
away for free and they had a discount of 20% on the cage that they were
using to keep him in.  We of course jumped on the opportunity to take
in the ferret.  We first had to correct them in that she was a he and
pointed out how you could tell.  Once we got home, we took him into a
separate room away from the others and let him explore.  He just speed
bumped on the floor and didn't move.  He could barely open his eyes, and
he was extremely dehydrated.  He was also so thin, you could almost see
his ribs and you could see some of his backbone.  We immediately brought
him some water and food and he sat up and drank so much water that I
thought he would float away.  He then began eating food like he hadn't
eaten for years.  After he was done, he tried to walk around, but he
couldn't move very much.  He acted as if he didn't know what his legs
were used for.  More than likely he was stuck in a cage or worse yet, an
aquarium for who knows how long.  We gave him a special bed and blankets
and he made his home in that room for the night.  I checked on him
periodically and he was always sleeping.  The next day, he was moving
more and seemed more alert.  To make a long story short, within 2 weeks,
he had gained about 2 lbs and was acting like a ferret should act.
 
I made tons of calls not too long after we got him to find out what
school would have the nerve to use animals as a project.  I found out
that a high school has a zoology project that the teacher divides the
students into groups and each group has to get an animal and the group
needs to care for it through the semester.  Well, it tends to make me
think that the project was on how NOT to take care of animals.  I
couldn't get any more history on the ferret, like if he was a pet prior
to this or if someone went out and spent that much money on an animal for
a project.  Needless to say, I raised holy you-know-what with the school
system and the head of the science department at that high school.  Of
course, nothing has changed within the curriculum, because my brother
went through that class the following semester.  Sad thing is that is
the high school I graduated from about 10 years ago!  Luckily, the school
system then wasn't as dense as they are now.
 
I am happy to say that a year later, the ferret, named Alexander Graham,
is a happy, healthy 4 lb boy!  No one is exactly sure of his age, but the
vet seems to think around 4 years old based upon his teeth.  So, it leads
us to believe that he was a pet or a ferret obtained from somewhere else.
[Posted in FML issue 4665]