I've been watching the recent discussion on shelters with some interest and
have a few opinions to voice...
 
One thing that doesn't make a shelter a true shelter is a bank account.  I
could walk up to my bank today and open up an account under the name of
(such and such) shelter.  They'd be happy to open it for me.  I needn't
open a whole new account, I could just add to a business account "trading
as (such and such) shelter" and there we go - a shelter account.  Nope,
having a bank account doesn't make me a shelter.  It just adds an extra
bill at the end of the month.
 
Let me see.  Oh!  Non-profit status.  Filling in all those forms,.
accepting donations, and stuff.  They must be a shelter, right?  Actually,
not necessarily.  Admittedly, people who are going to go to the lengths of
getting non-profit status and fiddling books in order to con someone out of
money will probably do it for bigger bucks than the ferret world would make
them.  So I guess there may be some safety in it.  Still, it doesn't mean
that they're running a shelter.  All it means is that they're running a
non-profit organisation of some kind, not that they have a ferret shelter.
 
Then there's that pesky issue of the phone book.  If you're in the phone
book, you must be legit, right?  Actually no.  It just means that you have
enough available funds to either buy space in the book, or get another
phone line in for the shelter.  Another bill at the end of the month.
 
If a bank account, non-profit status and phone number don't make a shelter,
what does??  Well, caring for ferrets, willingly taking them into your home
when they need it, paying the necessary vet bills, finding good homes,
checking out the new homes, adopting the ferrets out, educating the public,
being on-hand for people who may need assistance with their ferrets and,
well... just generally being a shelter.  Usually this is for *more* than
the occasional ferret once or twice a year.
 
There a hundreds of shelters out there, including many small ones, housing
only 5 to 15 ferrets at a time.  Most of those small shelters took on the
responsibility for their decision to shelter knowing that it would cost
them in time, effort and money.  They're essentially unknown except in
their small areas, and never (or rarely) ask for funds to help with their
shelter animals.  There are many who house around 15 - 30 animals - they're
more well known, but still either don't ask for funds, or only rarely.
Then again, there are the people who can house over 30 ferrets.  I've met
several of these people, and of those I have met, none have ever asked for
help with funding.
 
Many shelter operators give what they can to help others, including
products, advice and money.  The people who take in these ferrets usually
get money through making items and selling them, fundraising, from their
own income, and/or through donations.  They can spend thousands of dollars
regularly (depending on the numbers, this can be yearly, monthly, or even
more) For one reason or another, some of these have chosen not to get a
non- profit status - such as not having the funds to spend on attaining
that status, or preferring not to spend that money on something other than
the ferrets who need it.
 
Bank accounts, phone lines, non-profit status... all of these cost money.
Rather than worrying about whether a shelter has any of these, perhaps a
search of the ferret community itself is a better way of finding out about
that particular shelter.  Call some ferret people in the area that the
shelter is meant to be in.  Ask ferret people who are known to have
contacts in the shelter world.  Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and it
can be utilised to find out more about things - such as finding out if the
shelter you are hoping to help really does exist.  The ferret community
will know more about the existance of a shelter than any phone company,
tax worker or bank.
 
There are shelters out there now who are seriously considering closing
their doors because over the past few years they have been dumped on,
essentially spat at and pee'd on simply because they are doing their very
best to help the ferrets.  They've done all they could and more, and
instead of being simply appreciated or *thanked* for what they're doing,
they're being called frauds, cheaters, tricksters, con artists, and worse.
Why people do this is beyond my comprehension, exactly what they think
they're doing I'm not sure of.  Some people think they're doing the right
thing!
 
There are 'frauds' out there.  There are people out there who call
themselves a shelter so they can get more ferrets.  There are others who
*say* they're a shelter so they can get donations from people willing to
help the ferrets.
 
If anyone ever wants to make a donation to a ferret shelter (or any shelter
for that matter) and they're worried about it not being used for the
ferrets, maybe you could spend that money through The Ferret Store and get
them to send on ferret products, or maybe you can send out rags, cages, old
carriers, food or other items they could use.  There is no way except by
physically visiting, to know 100% exactly which person/shelter is a true
shelter, and that isn't always possible.
 
Personally, I'd rather the ferrets were the ones who remained important,
and shelters are required to help not only the ones who need homes, but
also to help owners who have problems.  Forcing good shelters to close down
because they aren't non-profit, or they don't have a phone number or bank
account, doesn't make sense.
 
Sam
[Posted in FML issue 2877]