<sigh>
>The source of your information is one that we consider to be biased and
>complete unreliable.  There seems to be a strong bias in the way it was
>reported.  Marshall Farms passed the USDA inspection so oviously it wasn't
>all that bad.
 
If ANYTHING in the Marshall Animal Research, Inc.  report was untrue, a
simple threat of a libel suit would have been sufficient to force a
retraction, an apology and possibly monetary damages.  Doing a character
assassination on the author of the report (just as you did the last time)
doesn't make the report untrue.  If you have the slightest shred of concrete
proof that the report is untrue, you could settle the matter once and for
all by simply producing it.  Obviously you do not.
 
Now to the USDA.  The USDA is mandated (and budgeted) to enforce the Animal
Welfare Act and to also protect the public from filthy diseased meat and
poultry.  They are notorious for "looking the other way" in both instances.
 
>But we have seen many many of their ferrets and do NOT see them as horrible
>ferrets.
 
Ferret lovers don't see any ferret as horrible and I don't remember any
instance of anyone ever implying that.
 
>pure topic of animal rights is not approriate for his list so "animal
>research in general if off topic.
 
For the newcomer to the list, who probably already wishes she hadn't, animal
rights is not a dirty word to most of us.  Anyone not into animal
exploitation of one form or another has little reason to fear or hate animal
rights organizations.
 
Glenn J.
 
[Moderator's note: Animal rights doesn't have to be a dirty word(s) -- it's
my experience that many (perhaps most?) people on this list are quite aware
of animal rights issues and are generally supportive of them.
 
The issue about discussing this on the list is simple: This is a list about
ferrets, not about animal rights, or computer virus alerts, or kittens that
need a home.  Yes, all these are worthy issues and affect many subscribers,
but I have to enforce the policy rather stringently, not only to keep the
list from growing three times as large but to protect myself legally.  Of
course, animal rights affect ferrets too, and I'm a bit lenient there
(probably excessively so) but I *will* keep the list on topic when things
begin to get out of hand.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 2328]