I know I'm a few days late on the subject and only read a few posts
on it - and I guess, here's my take, good or bad.

To me, I love the idea of sanctuaries. It is funny how dog and cat
sanctuaries do not provoke the same type of stimga in our minds as
when we hear "ferret sanctuary".

This is because we have secret collectors. People who do not tell
people how many ferrets they have, and continue to get more and more.
To me, have what you will, as long as every animal is cared for in the
manner that is best for it. All ferrets are different, some like to
live in groups and have little human interaction and many love to be
around people. All need environmental enrichment and vet care. If they
recieve it, then that is great.

It is when people start lying that the trouble starts. Rescues do not
want to adopt to people who lie, and it's a lot better to hear from
someone that they are a sanctuary than to find out later that they
actually have around 80 ferrets....something that is impossible to
hide when you visit them.

Money, volunteers, time, and support from the community all make a
difference in what can be done. Or a well done system of caretaking,
along with someone who basically does it all day long, every day, with
no rest. If they want to do that and the ferrets are doing great, more
power to them. But the truth has to be there, whether it be an owner
with 90 ferrets or 5, I want to know the TRUTH about where a ferret
goes, and what the owner is doing.

The only issue that I have is that I think if you run a ferret
sanctuary and you have people willing to adopt, perhaps start doing
home visits and making these people volunteer to prove how worthy they
are as a ferret parent. If they truly fall in love with an animal,
they can take the financial burden and adopt the animal, creating a
one-on-one environment that can be equal to what the ferret received
at the sanctuary. I am not saying become a rescue, but when people
volunteer for over a few months, it shows commitment, and a desire to
help that really does show what kind of person they are. This would
help make more time and room for incoming ferrets.

To me, no ferret is truly unadoptable - it is simply thousands of times
harder to find a new parent, but they can be found, and if someone is
truly showing an interest and proves themselves, I wish sanctuaries
could somehow adopt to them. We all have had ferrets that we know "no
one else" could put up with, but even I have found a person to adopt
ferrets from me I thought no one would. One person in particular - she
came over, got attacked by a ferret adolescent kit who loved biting
because she was a happy biter, and was bleeding so much from her (I had
told her and she decided to keep playing with the ferret and said she
didn't mind biting). I felt so bad, but she seriously liked the ferret
a lot and kept playing. I got a call later on after she left saying
that she had fallen in love with her and wanted to adopt her....
something I thought would never happen, not in a million years.

Rarely people do come along who love ferrets as much as the sanctuary
owner, and rescue owners, but they do exist.

Sorry, I am having a hard time saying what I think.

Laryssa

[Posted in FML 5733]