i.e. running a shelter
 
Ferrets are living, breathing, feeling beings.  When operating a shelter
or care home, that should be the foremost priority.  Is the ferret
comfortable in their surroundings?  Is the ferret happy, depressed,
or resigned to life in a cage?  Is the ferret getting tlc, human
interaction, exercise, cuddle and love time every day?  Good food?
Needed medications and medical care including surgery?  Or do they just
sit day in and day out in a cage waiting to be adopted?
 
Running a shelter isn't for the convenience, glory, or financial rewards
of the people running it, it is for the benefit and welfare of the
ferrets.  It's a difficult, heartbreaking, expensive (physically,
emotionally, financially) labor of love.  But the rewards are extreme.
To see an abused/neglected fuzzy play for the first time, to receive the
first trusting kiss from a biter, to see a lone ferret snuggle up with a
ferret companion, to see previously clouded eyes dance with sparkling
pleasure.... the list goes on...
 
I work 6 days a week, operate FFS, and take care of the ferrets I share
my life, love and home with.  If something goes without doing, it will be
something of mine, not anything relating to the ferrets.  I know what one
person can do and can continue to do, alone.
 
My life changed drastically when we got hit with ECE in 1996.  I had 64
ferrets at the time.  But the ferrets survived and the ferrets and I
managed to get through it together.  I kept watching their little faces
for the old sparkle in the eye and in several it took 4-6 months of
intensive care to bring it back, but it did come back.  It was a living
nightmare that I wasn't sure I'd get through.  I pushed myself to
extremes, and beyond.  Before that time I didn't know just how far a
human could go on sheer will power (wish I could control my eating by
will power).  So when you think you can't do anymore, think again.
You'll be pleasantly surprised at the sustaining power within you.
 
I'm not any different than anyone else.  I have outside influences in my
life too.  But the priority is, and always will be, the ferrets and their
happiness and welfare and ferret people that need me too.  It only takes
a few minutes to drop a note in the mail or send an email.  I can afford
that time.  We all can.  Don't forget that volunteers have busy lives too
and they are giving of themselves too.  They may not want it, but they
NEED appreciation and they most certainly deserve it.
 
So for those shelters that think they are just too busy, perhaps
it's time to review your priorities and practices.  Think ferret
happines/health/welfare first.  Be thankful for helpers and if you don't
have helpers, be thankful that you are able and capable of doing it all
yourself.  :-)
 
Warm hugs to all. tle
Troy Lynn Eckart, F.B.S.
Ferret Family Services
http://www.ferretfamilyservices.org
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/
Please sign up to support our efforts
http://www.iGive.com/FFS
[Posted in FML issue 3966]