Hi, Some of you who have met Kim have met me: I am Lisa, the main (and
usually only) volunteer and Kim's friend.  Kim and I both recognize that
the shelter needs assistance for it to keep operating.  I have Kim's full
permission to post this information.
 
To outline the problem as it stands right now, there are currently 56
ferrets in the shelter.  One of the ferrets is pregnant and is expected
to give birth shortly, so the numbers will go up.  We have a shortage
of space, volunteers and adopters.  Normally, Kim and I can handle this
between ourselves, our homes and wheedling Stan and my husband into
helping.
 
Kim has recently severely damaged her knee to the point where she is in
constant pain, on pain medication (which is not letting her think clearly),
and getting depressed and being in no shape to care for herself, never mind
running the shelter.
 
I have 11 recently-rescued ferrets living in my living room, which is fine;
but it is putting a strain on me to care for my family plus the 11 rescues
in my home, and then cleaning and caring for Kim and the shelter.  Not to
mention that Kim has had to turn away 8 ferrets in the last few days.  I
can handle this short term, and Jen Hudson, a friend from Pennsylvania, is
coming in once a week to clean cages, which is an unbelievable help at this
point -- but it needs to be addressed for the long term.  There are no
other KiSta volunteers.  Kim and I are not too proud to ask for help.
 
Kim and I have decided that we don't want to foster the ferrets out.
They need to go to loving permanent homes.  We also want to stress:
please do not adopt out of "guilt".  The last thing anyone needs is to be
overburdened by ferret math.  That is not what we want.  A shelter cleaning
or ferret food , cleaning supply donation will help us just as much as an
adoption.  Heck, come over and do some stinky ferret laundry (I hear you
can buy your way into heaven by doing nasty stinky ferret laundry).
 
If you are unable to adopt, we also desperately need volunteers to help us
clean cages, clip nails, clean ears etc.  The ultimate goal is to get the
shelter down to 20 or less ferrets and keep it that low for awhile to give
Kim a well deserved "vacation" (trust me: 20 compared to what we have is a
walk in the park).
 
Kim and I both hope that her leg pain will not be a permanent/long term
problem, but we feel that to be a responsible ferret shelter we need to
address the situation before any problems occur.
 
Kim is trying to stay off the computer as much as she can.  You can feel
free to call her at 609.978.5899 (although I won't guarantee that she will
make sense on the pain medication).
 
You can also email me at [log in to unmask] or call me at 609.978.2823 to
arrange an adoption/cleaning or just to talk.  We are thinking of doing the
adoptions/visits out of my home as I only live one street over from Kim and
it would let her get the bed rest she is so fond of avoiding.
 
Thank you so much for being a friend to Kim and the Shelter.  Even if you
can't help, your good thought for the shelter ferrets and Kim are very
much appreciated.
 
Lisa
[Posted in FML issue 3147]