Hi Guys,
 
Had to speak up on this one.  The Petco's in Houston have worked hard with
the Houston Area Ferret Association and their shelter folks to provide
education days for ferret awareness.  One near the president of the club
asked them to bring in ferrets for adoption from the shelters, even when
they were selling ferrets themselves.  They also heavily publicized the
event to let folks know about it.  They placed ads in the newspaper and
handed out flyers about the event for over a month ahead of time.
 
They are a large chain and depending on the manager of a paticular store,
it will depend on what they will do.  I personally have received ferret
food from the Pet Care store here in Columbia (Petco chain) free.  They
knew I had enough ferrets for a shelter and was taking in biters, so I got
a torn bag of ferret food.  A Petco had a ferret with a badly prolasped
rectum in St. Louis when I visited with a friend.  The manager was very
concerned, and we worked out a deal of me paying their cost for the ferret.
That is how I got Miss Elsbeth, aka Bette.  And the manager saw my friend
the other day and asked after Bette.  I got her in January.
 
These folks can't do a whole lot, because it is a chain.  Even the managers
have a limited amount of power and I know for a fact that Petco can't even
special order.  It is all based on computer controlled inventory and is
decided by the "gods that be."
 
Perhaps everyone should try and work with the pet store operators, and also
the big breeders instead of running them down all the time.  Oh yeah, I
forgot, this is the ferret world, we are supposed to yell at everyone at the
top of our lungs.  Sorry.  Forgot myself for the moment.(yes, that is heavy
sarcasm.)
 
Maggie Mae
[Posted in FML issue 2369]