I don't have experience with Petco in particular, but I do know about one
of the big farms.
 
Our shelter, the Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association, has an agreement
with Path Valley Farms to take in any ferrets that would normally be
returned to them. Path Valley apparently works with other shelters (Fran
Wiles name was mentioned to me), too.
 
Basically, if the petstore has a *problem* ferret (biting, deaf, etc.) what
they can do is call Path Valley and get a credit for that animal. Then they
contact any of our shelter branches and we pick up the ferret from the
petstore. Path Valley normally has the ferret shipped back to them and one
of the employees takes it home for a pet. Path Valley states that they do
not destroy the returned ferrets.
 
Many of the pet stores that carry Path Valley ferrets don't know that they
can do this. You can contact Path Valley (1-800-FERRET1) to find out what
to do in your area.
 
I don't know about Marshall Farms, Triple F, Hagan or any other farms. Does
anyone else know for sure what happens to their returned ferrets?
 
Mary and the gang of 20....
 
Mary McCarty-Houser
Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association
Director, Centre County Branch
http://www.ferretrescue.com
[Posted in FML issue 2393]