Dear FML:
        I am a zookeeper at a small zoo in Worcester Massachusetts.  The
first day  started my new job, my boss told me one thing- never become
emotionally attached to any of the animals that you work with.  I am now
finding out why.  I have always been a fan of ferrets.  I had just never
kept one because of the current laws pertaining to them in Mass.  Much to
my enjoyment I was given the task of taking care of three fuzzies.  Two
males- Willy and Fluffhead, and a female Sandy.  I spend more time with
them than I do at my house.  These ferrets became a big part of my life.
I would come to visit them on my days off, I would work late just to be
with them.  I had become emotionally attached.
        One day I arrived at work at the usual time of 6:00am.  The
ferrets were, to my surprise, all asleep.  I turned on the lights and
almost instantly, the ferrets woke up.  Sandy, who was nine years old,
looked to be a bit dazed.  I didn't think much about it.  Later on that
day, I wasa observin some of the hedgehogs, which are right next to the
ferret enclosure.  Sandy began vomiting.  She did not stop.  She died in
my arms on the way to the vet's buildling.  After a year working as a
zookeeper, and seeing many animals pass away, I thought that I would not
react the way I did.  I cried for an endless amount of time.  Instead of
having her body taken to a lab to be destroyed, I amde a grave for her
withy a headstone.  She was buried with her favorite tennis ball in her
arms.
        You will be missed greatly, Sandy Ferret.
From:
Brian- "Where did that bowl go ???"
Willy- "There was a bowl here??"
Fluffhead- "A bowl, A bowl !!!!"
[Posted in FML issue 1304]