I've been thinking on this subject for a while, and watching the Petco
debate with some interest.  Both sides have valid points to some degree.
One comment from Sandi caught my eye:
 
<snip shelter numbers>
>The vast majority were discarded by someone who had a credit
>card in their pocket and a pet store in their neighborhood.  I t's
>your choice whether or not to support Petco or other stores
>selling ferrets and other animals.
 
I'm somewhat amazed that someone could look at the number of animals
available for sale from pet stores and breeders, see a majority of animals
coming into the shelter are from pet stores, and not see that a vast
majority of animals *sold* are from pet stores, not breeders.
 
For every breeder selling one rabbit, ferret (fill in gap here) there are
ten or more pet stores selling whole litters.  Why is it a surprise that a
majority of these animals come into the shelter?  In order for animals
coming from breeders to equal or outnumber the pet store animals, over ten
times the number of breeders animals (at a guess, each area/province has a
different ratio) will have to be turned over.  Personally, I would *expect*
a vast majority of animals coming into a shelter to come in from pet store
sales - not because they're from pet stores, but from the sheer mathematics
of it!
 
Yes, it would be nice for all pet stores to stop selling animals.  Yes, it
would be nice if people only purchased animals from breeders or shelters.
It would be fantastic if every owner was perfect and shelters weren't
needed!  Yes, it would be great if the world was filled with people filled
with compassion, and love for animals (and hey, why not for people too -
what a novel idea) BUT... it just isn't going to happen.  No way, no how.
Let's be realistic, the world just isn't going to be that perfect place.
 
One point I *rarely* see commented on in this issue... who says that all
breeders are good?  At least places like Marshall Farms, Path Valley,
Hagen, Triple F and myriad other 'ferret farms' feed and vaccinate their
kits before shipping them out.  I've seen some breeders who have their
animals in tiny, filthy cages, piled on top of each other, with little or
no food and water, maggots in the cages and severely malnourished.  I've
also met a 'ferret farmer' (is that the right term??) and seen how they
care for their animals.  Not all small breeders are good.  Not all big
breeders are 'the bad guy'.  I'm not saying that all big breeders are
perfect and all small breeders are bad.  There are good and bad in *both*.
 
In regards to early neutering... For those who believe that early neutering
is evil, I'll present my opinions.  Bad points of early neutering are that
the ferrets are not mature (by any stretch of the imagination) when they're
neutered, and therefore may not be maturing as fully or properly.  They z
are *believed* to be smaller and possibly more prone to hormone related
illnesses.  Personally, I know that early neutering has been practised in
New Zealand for many years and no proven cases of adrenal, insulinoma,
lymphosarcoma, or cardiomyopathy have been seen here.  Anyone who believes
ferrets are significantly smaller when neutered early sure hasn't seen the
ferrets I've seen here!  Several of the early neuters I've seen here in New
Zealand I'd be drooling to have been able to breed from.  Far larger than
my whole hobs, and real sweethearts.
 
Next: the good things (dare I say it) about early neutering.  First, and
most importantly, jills are SAVED because of this practise.  A *majority*
of ferret owners out there haven't a clue what aplastic anaemia is, they
automatically assume that when the jill goes into season she'll go *out* of
season eventually with no problems.  We at the FML are a minority, we've
found a way to get information on our beloved pets and want to get it!
Most ferret owners don't own computers, let alone know how to get on the
internet, and many don't even bother to look at books on ferret care.
 
Second is that it prevents people from purchasing whole ferrets and breeding
litters only to dump them, send them to other people, or leave them in
shelters when they have too many.  Imagine one pet store selling two whole
kits.  One person buys them - a brother and sister.  Come a year of age the
new owner hasn't separated the pair and suddenly there are seven more kits.
Assuming they all survive, this person now has nine ferrets.  They give
away those seven ferrets with ads in the paper.  One person takes a couple
of ferrets... A year later, of those kits - some have found males to put
with their jills in season, one of those jills died when she wasn't bred.
One litter is drowned when they can't be sold.  Another litter has died,
and the jill has been 'released into the wild'.... well you get the idea.
A majority of these kits will be sold, given away, left at shelters,
abandoned or killed.
 
Personally, I don't like that the kits are neutered so early, however I
prefer that to the alternative.  Neuter contracts are a wonderful idea, but
face it... how many people keep to those contracts?  How easy is it to just
'forget' to do it.  What good is an apology to a dead jill?
 
Both pet stores and breeders have their place.  Unfortunately, not all
are good, not all are perfect.  The only way to remedy that is education.
Educate the public.  Educate the pet stores.  Educate the humane societies.
Educate the children.  Educate the current ferret owners.  Spend your
energy on educating people so that there is more *knowledge* out there and
less ferrets, rabbits (fill in the gap here) will be neglected, abandoned
or given away.  At least that way, the animals will benefit, rather than
potentially harming them (albeit unwittingly) by cutting what little help
they are given out from under them.
 
Sam
[Posted in FML issue 2677]