Being a shelter operator and a pessimist, I'm used to being disappointed
with the general public and their level of commitment.  It is not at all
unusual to have people not show up for their appointment or not even call
to say they will not make it, even though they agreed with me about how
inconsiderate that is when they made the appointment and they would NEVER
be like that, but that means nothing in reality, they don't show and
don't call.  I've been thinking about charging a deposit that they get
back when they call or show up (just kidding).  Anyway, I'm used to that
kind of disappointment, but I'm not used to being disappointed by fellow
ferret advocates and even shelter operators.  This was the first year
Cascade Ferret Network has participated in the Giving Tree.  Most of the
ferrets got responses quickly from several people wanting to be their
Santa's, but I thought it was fair to only let the first request be the
santa, so the others were encouraged to pick another ferret from the
tree.  As the season progressed, I read several posts from people that
were disappointed that the shelter they had sent a donation to hadn't
acknowledged receiving it, but I haven't seen any shelters mention being
disappointed that the people that promised to send something to these
poor shelter babies never followed through with their commitment.  Of
the 5 ferrets picked (out of the over 100 ferrets in the shelter) to be
on the Giving Tree, only 2 have gotten anything from the people that
promised to be their Santa (thank you Sarah Coleman and Carrie G. for
your gifts to Timone and Tucson).  After Christmas I emailed the people
that asked to be the ferret's santa and they promised they were still
going to send something, after another few weeks of nothing, I emailed
again, no response this time.  Very discouraging, two of them are even
fellow shelter operators.
 
I have also been disappointed at the response so far with the Cascade
Ferret Network web cam contest.  I thought a $25 gift certificate to the
ferret store would be a great incentive to get people to visit the web
cam and see what kind of fun image they could send as a entry in the
contest.  To date we have only gotten one entry and one entry does not a
contest make.  Maybe everyone is waiting until the last minute to send
the images they have captured.  The contest goes on until the end of
February, so please visit the Cascade Ferret Network web page
(www.cascadeferret.org) throughout the day (morning, Pacific time, is the
best time to see the most action) to capture a fun image and maybe win
$25 in merchandise from the ferret store.  The play room changes every
week or so and the archive usually has a few fun images, so check it out!
 
Elayne Barclay
Network Coordinator
Cascade Ferret Network
www.cascadeferret.org
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[Posted in FML issue 4045]