This is Edward from Frettchenvergnuegen land near Seattle commenting
upon Sukie Crandall's posting in FML issue 2635.
 
I enjoyed very much Crandall's erudite posting for two reasons: one, it is
highly informative and very well written.  And two, it, as any good writing
should do, made me wonder, and wondering made me think a little bit -
always a painful process!
 
Consider percentages of ferrets that show terrible reactions & death from
vaccinations - nobody knows these percentages, do they?  How to compare
such figures with percentages of ferrets that are afflicted with the
diseases that vaccs are supposed to protect them from?
 
Are Shelters where no ferrets are vacc'd and that no incidence of
K9Distemp/Rabies (K9D/R) have shown up?  Maybe?
 
Are ferret owners a shot-happy crowd cowed by vet/med establishment with
their moralistic/pedantic propaganda?  Does anyone know the mortality
figures related to K9D/R, to other death causing diseases, both in vacc'd
ferrets and not?
 
Could we all be stumbling in fog of ignorance since numbers above are
simply not there?  Are we fervently hoping that we're erring on the side
of caution.  Me thinks so.
 
Let's challenge the major national ferret orgs to conduct in depth a census
of all know ferret mortalities over the past 5 and the next 5 years to
determine, among other things, the efficacy of vaccs with respect to
disease inhibition and mortality.
 
Further I would suggest that all ferret owners, past and current, report
to a national data base, a central collector, the mortalities they have
personally experienced, so that some hint of the effectiveness of vaccs in
ferrets can be seen.  In addition, a summary of the cause of all ferret
deaths should be reported to a centralized agent or org.
 
I should like to be instrumental in leading such a fact finding mission
and would suggest that regional committees be set up to receive ferret
morbidity/mortality data.  May I hear (read) from you who are vitally
interested in the pursuit of ferret long-term good health and who'd be
lovingly willing as volunteers to garner longevity facts in your own
geographical region.  Could that we set up cells of informants, as so
successfully the communists have done world-wide, to collect ferret
morbidity/mortality data from their friends and their vets in their
immediate vicinity?  As the data are collected in the cells then such data
would be funneled to a central collection handler whose responsibility it
would be to organize and catergorize morbidity and mortality nationwide.
Ultimately conlcusive evidence would lead to hypotheses, then theories,
then finally to direct beneficient action.
 
Do I hear rumblings of discontent?  Yee gods, what do we have here ... A
Ferret Gestapo?  Yes, in manner of speaking, one might say that, because
what I'm asking is for informants to "spy" on one's ferret neighbor.  But,
of course, the information is not to be secretly gleaned, but instead
freely and openly offered, or so I would hope.
 
Thus it may come to pass that with the wisdom gained through everybody's
efforts, the correct path of rightousness may be more clearly defined and
that through the study of sickness and death, life may be extended.  (Jees!
Sounds like preacher talk)
 
On Crandall's Y2K musings ... Hey!  Right on.  Without water and electricity
we're in for one helluva turmoil.  Seantors Bennet and Dodd have concluded
in a press release from the floor of the US Senate that if 010100 happened
tomorrow, that 100 percent shutdown of the entire USA power grid would go
off line.  And if new computer chips and codes were changed between now and
then, there is still a 40 percent power outage expected.  Of course the
water distribution systems would go bonkers too, because of the obsolete
computer chips and bad code language in the water and sewerage treatment
facilities.  Just a point to ponder: how long can a 35 to 50 ferret ferret
shelter survive with no electricity or water for 60 to 90 days?  (maybe
longer?) And just as ponderable, how in the hell am I (and you too) going
to survive?  Become really, really friendly with your local neighborhood
Mormon, because they're already ready for it?
 
Edward Frettchenvergnuegen* Lipinski
 
*Have been challenged by a native German that no such word exists in the
Deutsche Sprache [G.] German language.
[Posted in FML issue 2368]