Hello FMLers,
 
I thought I'd give a bit of an update on what HAFA, the Houston Area
Ferret Association, has been up to lately.  (Note: I'm not an officer
in the group, just a participating member.)
 
Every organization remotely related to animals near the Gulf Coast has
been busy with hurricane recovery efforts, and HAFA is no exception.
When Hurricane Rita hit the Texas coastline and knocked out power to
the region, HAFA foster homes were able to take in many of the ferrets
affected until things returned to normal.  We heard several secondhand
reports of ferrets dying of heat exhaustion during the slow, hot highway
evacuation, and I can tell you personally that the evacuation was one of
those "We'll laugh about it in a couple years' time" sort of things,
definitely.
 
Storm relief efforts are still ongoing, as much of the area east of
Houston was deeply affected by the hurricanes.  I took a trip to
Louisiana last weekend to pick up a ferret who was found wandering the
streets of New Orleans after Katrina hit.  She had been found by a woman
who turned her over to a friend in Lafayette, LA, and that's where she
had been staying for the past seven or so weeks.  The ferret had fleas
and was a little pudgy due to poor food and lack of exercise, but
otherwise was in good health.  After the quarantine period is over, we'll
be fostering her for another couple months in hopes that the original
owner steps up to claim her -- otherwise, she'll likely be adopted out
to a home in Houston.  We'll see how that turns out.
 
I don't know how much airtime the relief effort gets outside the Gulf
Coast these days, but the region between Houston and Lafayette still has
a lot of ground to cover before they're back to normal.  Signs are broken
or knocked down everywhere, and I saw a couple of houses cleaved by tree
trunks.  I'm sure it's a lot worse in New Orleans itself, and I commend
all the animal organizations -- ferret, dog, cat, whatever -- that are
still striving to serve the region.
 
On the homefront, HAFA continues to hold education days on a monthly
basis in pet shops across the Houston area.  Houston's a huge, sprawling
city, and it's gonna take us years to hit every store in the region,
but every event so far has been a blast.  We've also held two public
discussions with local ferret vets in the past couple months -- one
with Dr. Dori Hertel of the Loop 494 Animal Hospital about the Aleutian
disease virus, and another with Dr. Ray Cruzen of Steeplechase Animal
Hospital about melatonin, diet, housing, and a range of other topics.
 
HAFA's next meeting is Thursday, November 3, at Italiano's in Humble, TX.
An education day is tentatively scheduled for November 20 at a place to
be announced.  Everyone's invited to all HAFA events; ferrets are welcome
at education days, but proof of rabies and distemper vaccination is a
must.  For more details, visit our message board at:
http://ferret.meetup.com/88
 
Thanks for reading this far -- and if you know of any way we can help out
around the Houston/Gulf Coat area, by all means let us know.
 
k
[Posted in FML issue 5050]