I originally started the post about dreading too many ferrets being in pet
stores after NYC and Cal. get legalized, but I didn't do it anonymously.
I don't mind openly identifying myself when saying that this is what I
fear.  There WAS someone who misunderstood some of what I said about
requiring a permit before buying one, because they were afraid it would
punish all ferrets already in good homes who didn't have permits, and I
posted again to clarify my statement that I was only interested in
attacking the problem from the pet store level, where impulse buying
often occurs, NOT to affect ferrets already in happy homes.
 
I would be happy to cooperate on any efforts in the ferret community to
possibly nip this problem in the bud before it goes further, and I am in
full agreement with the post yesterday by Ferret Rescue in Colorado
Springs.  Maybe once ferrets get legalized, the Cal.  legalization groups
can work with the bordering states to take in their overabundance of
shelter ferrets, screen new ferret owners and adopt to them, so they DON'T
buy new ferrets at the pet store?
 
Also, you ARE brave to name Marshall Farms as the large breeder who I was
afraid to name.  I didn't want to be accused of slander or anything, so I
figured that by saying the "large" breeder, instead of Marshall, it would
be clear in most FMLers minds, who I was referrering to.  In all fairness,
I have seen them making an effort to improve their reputation, and be more
humanitarian.  If a customer in a pet store sees that the baby ferrets are
kept in unsuitable surroundings, like an aquarium, being fed unhealthy
food, or not being fed at all (when a petstore doesn't slightly moisten
hard food, it is almost impossible for baby ferrets to chew it, which is
why they're often very nippy, because they're starving), or is sleeping in
cedar shavings, you should contact Marshall at http://www.marshallpet.com
and send an email to them (there is a place on the website to do this) and
they will contact the store in most cases to try to rectify the situation.
 
Also, I was upset when I heard that their jills are retired and put to
sleep at around age 3.  When I wrote to them about it, they replied that
they often spay them and many of the employees there end up keeping them as
pets.  I don't know if this is done with all the jills or some of them, or
if it's done with the hobs.  I would personally like to see this done with
ALL of the jills, as well as the neutered hobs.  If they can't keep them
all, why not let petstores sell them for half price?  There would still be
a profit there,and it's another chance for a ferret to find a home, and as
we all know, sometimes an older ferret makes a better pet for a first-time
ferret owner, since they're often tamer by then.
 
Now that the cat is out of the bag (or in this case, the ferret), and we
know who this unknown large breeder is, maybe we, as a ferret community,
can get together to try to nicely persuade them to produce less ferrets
(maybe I'm fantasizing here?), or to be more responsible in distributing
them to stores, to wait until they're just a tad older before sending them
to pet stores (they're just as cute when they're older), to send some of
their older retired, spayed/neutered breeders to petstores at a reduced
price instead of very young kits, etc.  Maybe there can be more
personalization in distributing to pet stores, you know quality versus
quantity?  Instead of send a crate of them where many could die in transit,
a smaller quantity can be personally delivered by a caring person?  Maybe
we can even get them to stop sending their ferrets out to medical research
companies to be used as lab rats?
 
How can we do this effectively?  Can we threaten to boycott?  Yes.  If we
can boycott stores and businesses who don't give the ferret public what
they want, or who do things that are inhumane (remember the tuna boycott
years ago?), then why can't we boycott Marshall if they don't do what we
ask?  It's not like we're going to run out of ferrets any time soon.  It's
hard to look on their website where all you see is glossy pictures and
comments on the guest book, that people bought a ferret and they're really
cute, and everything is fine and dandy, etc., without seeing the reality
that goes with it, older ferrets abandoned, abused, given up because of
the inconvenience that comes with the dreaded adrenal
disease/insulinomalymphoma.  Why isn't there an educational section on the
website about caring for older ferrets responsibly instead of just an index
of new products you can spend your money on like all these fancy treats,
hammocks and toys.  And why isn't there a section on the website about
their ferrets (and dogs) who are sent to labs for medical research?
Huh?????.  Any ideas?  This is a place of exchange of information and
ideas, and that is what we should be doing.
 
I'm open to any suggestions.  We all need to work together on this, we
can't close our eyes and pretend it doesn't exist any longer.  Something
really needs to be done.  We will all sleep better at night if we can all
put our heads together.
[Posted in FML issue 3437]