Heyo-
 
Without stirring up the Marshalls debate again, which I have no desire to
do, I thought I'd sum up the conclusion I've come to:
 
On Petco: It seems to depend on where you are as far as whether or not the
ferrets are well taken care of.  A Petco near me takes very good care of
the ferrets (they do get frequent shipments of tiny, too-young kits with
no teeth and sparse fur) to the best of their ability.  They keep them in
the back room until they're old enough to go into the floor cage.  But the
employees there have confirmed that their individual store has little or
no control over their animal inventory.  One employee once told me, "We
could send back the shipments of babies, but we know what will happen to
them.  Plus, if we send back too many shipments, we'll end up with a new
manager very quickly." To those who can't read between the lines, Petco
does not like managers who are TOO interested in the animal's welfare.
But the actual care of the babies can range from excellent to poor,
depending on where the store is and if the employees are willing to learn
and take care of the ferrets.  It happens that the employees at our local
Petco have been willing to listen and learn from a shelter director, and
many little lives have been saved because of it.  They do all that they
can.
 
This is not necessarily a defense of Petco...I wouldn't shop there.
 
Personally, I don't know if it does any good to call either Petco or
Marshall's headquarters when you see tiny too-young babies in the pet
store.  Petco and Marshall's are pretty deeply into each other's back
pockets.  I think what we'll get is the "pat" answers...Petco will assure
you they don't accept ferrets under 8 weeks, which they most certainly
do, and Marshall's will tell you that they don't ship them under 8 weeks,
which they most certainly do!  Neither is going to go "after" the
other...Petco is probably the biggest contract that Marshall's has, and
by the same token, Marshall's is the only farm that can fill the orders
of a giant like Petco.  Neither is going to take much of a stand with the
other.  Both are profiting mightily from their association.
 
My suggestion would be to follow the lead of Alicia at FerretWise and work
on getting state laws changed as to the shipment of baby animals under 8
weeks.  It can be done.  Alicia proved it!  We can't wait for the stores
or farms to care enough about the animals to stop shipping them so young.
If we want to see change, we have to affect it ourselves.  This law
benefits other animals as well.  Puppy mills are an even more disgraceful
problem and lots of those pet-store window puppies should still be with
their moms.  But I digress...
 
Although not everyone agrees with the views or words of Danielle Frye,
she has spent a good deal of time on the phone with both Peter Reid at
Marshalls and one of the VPs at Petco.  She spoke to Marshall's about her
concerns about Petco (turning ferrets into an "impulse item", the lack of
knowledge in the stores that lead to high mortality rates, etc).
Marshalls was fairly unconcerned about problems with Petcos.  Marshalls
assured her that they offered training to the Petco employees, but Petco
declined it.  On the flip side, the Petco VP dismissed the concern that
Marshalls spays/neuters and ships too young, and emphasized that providing
ferrets for sale prevents backyard breeding.  In a nutshell, neither
company was concerned about the practices of the other, or wanted to
address any problems.
 
So, I'd love to see more states follow Alicia's lead and get the
Legislature to prohibit the sale of animals under 8 weeks!!  Of course it
wouldn't solve ALL the problems, but with this law on the books, New
Hampshire ferret lovers have more of a recourse than just picking up the
phone and calling Marshalls or Petco.  Now they can call authorities and
report, "This store is breaking the LAW by selling 6-week-old
ferrets/puppies/kittens."
 
Of course there will be snags and no solution is perfect (no doubt the pet
stores will have "proof" because Marshalls sends certificates along with
the kits that say they are older than they actually are) but it is a
definite start.  It is a backlash by people who care.
 
So...that's my thought on this whole debacle.  I'm just not sure that
there is much use spending time talking to either "giant" because they
are so intimately entwined as far as supply and demand.  Think K-Mart and
Martha Stewart and you've pretty much got the Petco/Marshalls
relationship!  Neither one is going to come down very hard on the other.
 
But WE can change things, a little bit at a time.  Rome wasn't built in a
day, and making the world a better place for ferrets is a slow and arduous
process sometimes, but there are more than enough people who care.  It can
be done.
 
Ferrets are people too!
 
-Heather W. in Massachusetts
[Posted in FML issue 3730]