Ed Lipinski Thoughtfully Writes:
>On the average, the female helpers spend more time "playing" with the
>ferrets and "cuddling" them than cleaning the crap out of litter pans and
>washing cages and utensils.  Plus the fact they are too weak to lift a
>bucket full of ferret waste or lift a bag of fresh cat litter.  If there
>are two or more here they are BS-ing most of the time & they eventually
>both try to do less than the other one.  Once they are bitten by a ferret,
>they become so gun-shy (or should I say "ferret-shy") that they are
>apprehensive & become essentially useless and somebody else must remove
>and replace any given ferret before any more meaningful work is done.
 
Well Gee, Ed, Im female, and I manage to lift those big buckets of poop,
and fill the clean litter container with bags of litter all by myself.  I
must be some sort of genetic freak or something.  Even between my "BS-ing"
with my INCREDIBLY helpful volunteers Breann & Lisa (both also weak, silly
girls) we still manage to get all the cages clean.  I've even been bitten,
and so have both of them, yet they still take time out from doing their
hair & nails, and birthing babies to come back and chance getting bitten
again.  You know, i've heard a rumour out there that us girls can even
VOTE!!!  Go figure.
 
Seriously though, thats all a bunch of crap.  Sorry Ed.  We've had both
male & female volunteers, and we love them all.  Anyone who would take
their personal time, and come to our house, and help clean up ferret poop,
clean ears, cut nails, and just let us know we're not drowning in ferrets
alone is a very special person.  Im sure that the volunteers that you've
had in your place now feel like real fools.  Your posting was ungrateful
and rude.  So what if they didn't do it EXACTLY like you would?  Show them
how!  Show them an easier way!  Don't just sit back, huff and puff and
whine later.  And, sometimes a cuddler is just the person that you DO want
at a shelter, since with so many ferrets (34 here) I know I'd like to
spend more one on one time with each ferret.  My point is there is no
"unneccesary volunteer".
 
My volunteers are amazing, I wouldn't trade them for the world, and its a
shame that you had to write this, since now im sure many people thinking of
volunteering think that all shelters feel the same way you do.  Let me just
say, WE DONT.  I welcome volunteers, and love the ones I have.  I honestly
don't know what I would do without them.
 
Thank you for letting me vent.
 
Kim
 
Please help us help the ferrets by visiting Eyegive at
http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=4030&mid=7501   We receive $2.00
for every new person who signs on, and its totally free to help us.
Thank you from the ferrets.
[Posted in FML issue 2742]