While it is difficult to see a shelter (especially one that has taken
on such an enormous and difficult rescue) questioned, I do believe the
recent questions are valid. They were well spoken without attack, and I
hope more information comes forth. Seeing the cost of this rescue and
how it was executed can help the ferret community be prepared for
future rescues. And there was an outpouring of support for this rescue,
and I hope that as stated, the questions are addressed so people can
always feel comfortable donating in the future, because that support
of the full community will always be needed in a large rescue.

Also I was glad to hear of the original plan (which unfortunately
didn't happen as the original rescue group had planned) in which
ferrets were going to be housed in a specific location and vets had
volunteered their time to check and I believe spay and neuter the
ferrets. To me this was perfect as there was no worry of the adoptees
from the large rescue not actually being fixed, but later bred by an
amatuer or aspiring breeder. Maybe we can stick to the ideal of how
that plan was implemented and try to use it as a model for future
large rescues.

On a final note, and this is not an attack but a point of how we can
better communicate in a large rescue, I was alarmed (as others were I'm
sure) of how anyone would deal with that amount of ferrets. I was glad
to hear that volunteers did come forth and worked long hours for the
ferrets. And I recall hearing that Lori needed (if I remember this
correctly) to hire neighbors to help because the work was overwhelming.
I did determine that I could go down to help for at least a long
weekend to help and began to communicate with the woman (I apologize
for forgetting the name) that was helping to coordinate the volunteers
and questions. Clearly an overhwelming burden, and one that I
understand couldn't have possibly come from Lori who was juggling the
ferrets care. But without timeful responses and feedback dates most
helpful to come, the trip never happened. Perhaps I should have just
headed down unannounced to help, but I felt intimidated to just show up
states away without knowing the shelter. Maybe we can learn from this
(although I'm not attacking the volunteers organization that clearly
got a good group of people in there to help quickly and efficiently).
If volunteers duties were more coordinated in the future, hopefully we
can alleviate the need for paid help, which would add up in any rescue
effort quickly!

Just some of my thoughts.

I hope some answers come out so we can all learn from this huge and
successful rescue, to be ready in the future (hopefully the far, far
future) should such a need ever come up again in the ferret community.

Risa

PS I do consider the rescue a success as they are out of DMK's awful
breeding farm, but that doesn't mean we can't look into this resuce
to execute one more efficiently in the future.

[Posted in FML 5810]