Kevin -

I merely was speculating as to the reason. I have no insider knowledge -
and as stated, just putting it out there with my personal read.

I do NOT view it as amnesty of any kind - but if it was, to what
purpose one way or the other?

I postulated 2 potential reasons photos could not be made - 1) due to
bad timing (i.e., pre-cleaning) or 2) due to an accommodation that may
have been part of the surrender agreement.

But bottom line, who really cares? It's over, it's history, so let;s
move on to the task at hand - supporting the shelters that have to
vet/neuter/vaccinate these ferrets.

Even with an exceptionally conservative $110 each ($10 distemper; $15
rabies; $20 ADV; $10 Mite treatment; and a conservative $65 neuter on
average) the ferret community is looking at a bill of $82,500 for 750
ferrets NOT counting food, housing and transportation expenses counting
from the time Lori picked them up to today.

I know for FACT that our outlay to date is over $2,500 --- and only 5
of the 18 we took have been vetted.... We expect the total to exceed
$225 per ferret for FACT as we are allocating the cost of transporting
48 ferrets from Ohio to the 18 we took into our shelter. We did not
ask for help from the other shelters who took the other 30. We were
just glad to be ABLE to help! And if we can find a way to pull it
off financially, we will try to help shelters that cannot afford the
expense of vetting the ferrets they took through FACT's disaster fund
established post-Katrina. Not sure we can do a lot at this point -
but will try to do what we can with no strings attached. I know that's
what our donors and supporters expect of us.

Right now FACT is facing a critical volunteer shortage - and are now
facing the possibility of having to hire people to come and clean
cages/rooms, etc. .... which will just further ramp up the "price"
of this rescue.

So, YES, for the anon poster that said we would be feeling the
aftermath of this rescue for at least a year - thank you for so
saying!!! But I sincerely think we will be feeling it financially
for far longer. There will be hard choices we will have to make for
ferrets in the shelter and foster program that may require surgeries
or expensive medication. We just can't grow money on trees....

Ann Gruden
President
Ferret Association of CT, Inc.

[Posted in FML 5755]