Lurker mode off
I hardly ever post except for making announcements regarding the Greater
Chicago Ferret Association, but I must post now regarding the statements
made by Sara Petersen from FURRY of St. Louis. Sara asked that flames be
emailed to her, but since she publicly posted these comments on the FML it
needs to be addressed here as well. I do believe this is fair. I don't
believe my response is a flame, just some information to set the record
straight publicly, but that is a matter of opinion.
It is wonderful that FURRY is taking in the ferrets from Animal Welfare
League here in Illinois, also GCFA is very grateful the Animal Welfare
League is finding other places to send the ferrets they receive. Please
keep in mind that Chicago is HUGE compared to St. Louis. The city of
Chicago has an estimated population of 2,799,050 compared to the city of
St. Louis 333,960. The metropolitan area of Chicago is 8,885,919 compared
to St. Louis metropolitan area of 2,569,029. I believe these numbers can
help explain why the Chicago shelter is "ALWAYS FULL" as Sara has stated.
This information is available at:
http//www.census.gov80/population/estimates/metro-city/ma99-05.txt
Even though this site is not ferret related, it was very interesting to
say the least.
As for the comments made about getting word out in the community, we sent
press releases to all the newspapers, radio stations and TV stations weeks
before the GCFA ferret show on September 30, 2000. The only media that
picked up on this was the Daily Herald, Chicago Tribune and Fox News. This
was wonderful that we received this response from the media, since other
times the media showed no interest at all. We also send out press releases
before we have the GCFA Holiday Party, which by the way is on December
17th. We have also been at pet stores and handed out literature. Yes, a
lot of people had no idea that a ferret shelter existed and most of the
time we end up getting people wanting to get rid of their ferrets, but
didn't know where to take them. We also invested the time to get involved
with Petsmart's program you mentioned. GCFA filled out the proper
documentation and were at the store the appropriate number of days. The
store changed managers and GCFA never saw any money, because there was no
proof with the new manager we met the requirements. That left a very bad
taste regarding this program.
Regarding the woman who said she filled out an application and mailed
it in for an adoption, I am very confused with this. The ONLY time an
application is filled out is when the family or person(s) have made an
appointment, looked at the ferrets up for adoption and have chosen a
ferret or ferrets to adopt. NO other time is an application filled out
by someone, mailed in and we would call them back. The GCFA has never
approved adoptions this way and never will. We always insist the whole
family, the person or persons who would be responsible for the care giving
come to the shelter and make the decision. The adoption form is to be
filled out on site.
Amy McNamara posted asking for volunteers is a volunteer herself and I am
sure she thought the FML would be a wonderful resource for people to help
with our need for volunteers at GCFA. I am very happy she took on the
task of "trolling" the FML for volunteers.
We are in the process of interviewing and visiting other shelters which
have the same or similar polices and practices, so we can try to relieve
the burden on GCFA. This was discussed a few months ago at the board
meeting and one shelter has already been visited.
Make sure you give kisses and hugs to all the fuzzies, they leave us too
soon.
Respectfully,
Norine Barnes
Director, Greater Chicago Ferret Assoc.
Lurker mode on.
Lurker mode off again.
P.S. - I want to say a BIG thank you to BIG for doing a very, very good
job with this list.
Also thank you to Bob Church for all of his humor and wonderful information
over the past years. I never skipped over his postings, in fact I would
always ferret them out. (ha ha)
Lurker mode on again.
[Posted in FML issue 3225]
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