>And I'm also arguing with Sukie, I'm just taking this opportunity to post
>something that's been on my >mind.
 
OOPS!  I'm such a dunderhead!  OH Sukie please don't nail me with a
Jersey snow ball for this.  This was a typo.  I meant to type, "I'm NOT
arguing with Sukie,"  Good grief.  Thank you for not thinking I was.
(shew, wiping sweat off my brow).
 
>There really is a problem with folks tending to want some"thing" fancy
>when that "thing" is actually a living creature who can be harmed by
>being purposely bred for coloration of other features rather than for
>health, longevity, and personality.
 
Yes there is, and that one petstore was very honest with me about that.
When I saw that the standard kit did not sell and was stuck in a cage in
that store, I almost didn't blame the store for requesting very light
colors and fanciful marked ferrets.  You know?  They do have a business,
and she was caring... she hated seeing that kit stuck there.
 
>Since farms like MF do reimbursements or partial reimbursements for
>early health problems they have to balance that against the demand from
>specific petstores or distributors for fancies.
 
Yes, and this includes deafness, even though it is very costly to them.
 
>It is ESSENTIAL to have important data FIRST, like that on handicaps,
>health or longevity reductions, behavioral changes, etc.  BEFORE
>spreading around a mutation just because it seems neat because it is
>different.
 
Of course.  But isn't it funny how humans still to this day do so
purposefully over and over again with various species of animals.  Indeed
Bob is right, in that the private breeders lead the way.
 
>Population genetic problems are much easier to create than to fix.
 
You know what?  Here is where I'm guilty.  I tend to oversimplify things.
I tend to look at things, and point and go... "there, there it is (the
problem), now make it vanish".  I tend to not understand why it's so hard
to undo something that seemed to easy to do in the first place.
 
Thank you for explaning about the hidden alleles better so that I and
others could understand that.  I think that one thing for sure is going
on... either a) Marshall Farms still has some WS breeders (openly), or b)
we have mucked with the ferret gene pool so much, that there are tons of
hidden alleles.  I think B is true regardless, of whether A is true or
not.  That's so sad to me.
 
So what will happen with those who have hidden traits and alleles?  Will
they eventually "wash out"?  And is that good?  Or will we be able to get
a handle on it and be able to reverse what we started?  For example do
you think when breeders see a high rate of blazes born, that they then
cull that line?  What action do you think they take, or do you think they
take non action?
 
Are there many private breeders still breeding blazes, or ferrets with
suspicous markings?  Gosh, I was hoping that this had slowed down.  I
have personally seen at least one known breeder where it has not.  I do
hope those of you who breed, will take reconsider this.  I know they are
gorgious.  I know they are sweet animals.  I know that deafness doen'st
seem like a big deal (and it's not, when the animal is in the best of
circumstances).  But the problem lies when you are gone, and the animal
doesn't, end up in the best of circumstances.  The problem also lies
within the unknow of what this gene manipulation does.  If you do a
google search on Waardenburg Syndrome and on the KIT gene itself, you
will see the research done on dogs, rats and humans... and how you are
not just fooling with "color" and "markings".  It goes much deeper than
that.  So bulldinkies to that practice.
 
Wolfy
 
Wolfy's site has MOVED to:
http://wolfysluv.jacksnet.com/
[Posted in FML issue 4064]