>I am sure I'll hear from some of you who disagree, but just remember.
>If your one of those Ferret Parents who allows your Ferret to run free
>while your gone and someday your Ferret comes up missing and ends up in
>the mits, claws, or hands of a preditor.  You only have yourself to
>blame.
>Rick
>United Ferret Organization (excluding Mass)
 
Although I appreciate Rick's dedication to ferrets, I just want to say
that I am appalled by this attitude.  Never, ever, ever imply that it's
somebody's own "fault" when they lose their ferret or their ferret dies.
There are a lot of loving, caring ferret parents on this list who don't
cage their ferrets.  I've owned ferrets for 9 years, and I've never caged
my ferrets for more than short periods.  I've never lost a ferret.  And, I
can safely say that my ferrets were just as safe, if not safer, from
escaping than anyone else's.  Why?  Because the mentality is completely
different when your ferrets run free.  Everything is a potential hazard,
all the time.  There's no "I can't leave the door open, the ferrets are
out", it's just "I can't leave the door open" period.
 
Most cases I've heard of ferrets becoming lost involved "I had my ferrets
out playing.." or "I went to put my ferret away for the night and...".
Caging ferrets does not mean they won't escape.
 
Unless you never let your ferrets out to play, there's a chance of them
escaping.
 
I could just as easily say "if you're one of those people who cage your
ferret, and your ferret [has one of those awful cage-related accidents we
hear about], you have only yourself to blame."  I would never do that, it
would be stupid and senseless.
 
It's not "lazy" or "unloving" to give a ferret free-run.  In fact it's a
whole lot more work.  We just love them enough to want them with us all the
time, and consider it a more humane way to house them.  And we have taken
the care to make the environment safe for them to do just that.  Can our
ferrets have accidents or escape?  Certainly.  But so can yours.  Do I think
our way is better than yours?  Certainly not, just different.  Equal.  And
our personal choice.
 
To imply that this poor lady brought her ferret's death on herself is simply
elitist and cruel.  Thank God she isn't on this list.  That's the reason
I'm upset.  I don't give a fig if you think caging ferrets is better than
letting them run free.  That's your opinion.  But your statement was no
better than the jerk who wrote and told the lady who was inconsolable about
stepping on her family's ferret that it was all her fault.  Or the idiot who
wrote the person who was asking about his ferret's diet, who told him that
he didn't deserve to have a ferret, just because he can't afford Totally
Ferret.  We're supposed to be supportive here.  Not judgmental and cruel.
Even if Bandit's mom isn't on this list, there are a lot of people who still
feel guilty about losing ferrets that are.
 
- Nancy
 
P.S.  I know for a fact that my ferrets run around and play when nobody is
there.  I have corrugated plastic tubes for them to play in, I hear them.
Perhaps your ferrets sleep because they are in a cage, not because you
aren't there...
 
-----
Nancy Stephens
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2401]