Just a clarification on my European trip in November.  What I didn't
say is that Stichting De Fret has invited me to Europe to speak at the
Fretten Symposium in the Netherlands (I didn't say it because they
hadn't yet announced it).  I'll be giving two talks on ferret behavior,
including a discussion on enrichment, one different from the one I gave
in Atlanta, with many new ideas and scientific information.  The people
who attend the Fretten Symposium will get to hear this new research on
ferret enrichment before anyone else, even FMLers!  I will also discuss
ferret domestication and behavior, which I have also done in other
places, but THIS time I am going to discuss those differences in
scientific detail.  For example, in past symposia and club talks I've
talked about differences in cranial capacity between ferrets and polecats
in general terms, but conserved the actual data (numbers) for future
scientific publication.  However, at the Fretten Symposium I'll be
tossing out real numbers and various charts to those attending.  They
will get to see what is essentially the raw data that will be published
in my scientific paper on the subject.  Why do they get the exclusive?
Because Stichting De Fret is RESPONSIBLE for me being able to do the
final bit of research to show quantifiable differences between polecats
and ferrets.
 
Thanks to the love and generosity of many people in the United States and
Canada, I have a deep understanding of what neutered and caged ferrets
look like, but I need to travel to Europe and measure polecats and
sexually intact ferrets OUTSIDE the USA breeding pool in order to write
the paper.  I have been talking about just that for the last few years,
but my problem wasn't finances: it was time.  I was in a catch-22
situation.  For the last few years all my personal and vacation time
has been "donated" to combating a Lupus-like autoimmune disorder, spent
visiting my ill mom, or, strange enough, talking at US/Canada ferret
symposia and clubs.  In fact, after my mom's last illness, I had no paid
leave left and it would take at least a year--more likely three--before I
could accrue enough vacation and personal time to be able to go to Europe
and do the research.  We all have to pay the bills.
 
I simply did not have the time to take even a week off so I could speak
at the Fretten Symposium.  My solution is to take 5 weeks of "unpaid
leave for research", accept the gracious and extremely generous offer of
a plane ticket from Stichting De Fret, and dip into my savings account to
pay the bills at home for the time I am gone, as well as to pay my trip
expenses.  So, because Stichting De Fret is--in essence--responsible for
me being able to do the European research needed to publish by picking
up the plane ticket and allowing me to stretch the arrival and departure
dates (and giving me the excuse for using unpaid leave for research), it
is only right I release those findings at the Fretten Symposium.
 
I want to STRONGLY ENCOURAGE our European FML members to attend the
Fretten Symposium.  PLEEEEEASE attend!  Not just to hear me speak about
enrichment and domestication <blush>, but also because of the other
wonderful information being presented.  True, while my talks will be in
English (with Dutch translations as handouts), most of the other talks
will be in Dutch (which means I'll be doing a LOT of blank staring with a
smile on my face).  But that is not the important part of the symposium.
Far more important is that by attending these sort of symposia, ferret
owners create a sense of fellowship and community that restores the
commitments to ferrets while at the same time providing contacts and
information that will make your ferret's lives better.  Please attend
this symposium!
 
Besides, you can get a limited publication postcard.  People in Atlanta
were given a special gift for attending my enrichment talk; that is
besides the ferret toys I tossed out to the sudience to take home.
It was one of eight total postcards of me riding giant ferrets, a
ferretalope, and a White Sands Sand Ferret.  I'll have new ones for the
people attending my talks at the Fretten Symposium!  I've got a "Willie,
the Loch Mess Ferret" postcard that will--shall we say--bring a smile or
two.  if course, if you'd rather have a postcard of me wearing a leather
corsett and red fishnet stockings.....
 
Bob C
[Posted in FML issue 4439]