Hey all, since I am often forwarding these, here is my take and a little
explanation.  Yes, I agree that the throw-away mentality is extremely sad.
And I understand the original poster's thoughts about it being good to
find new homes for unwanted ferrets, etc, just that it is terribly to sad
to read of a child "outgrowing" pet ferrets.
 
I run those listings to help try to keep ferrets out of NC's over-burdened
ferret shelters.  They are mirrored on a local NC discussion group (but
the FML has many members who have adopted from here but are'nt on our
local group) and on a web page I put up for my local club.  Sometimes
people can hang onto their ferrets until a home is found; in other cases,
a shelter really is the better option.  It all depends on the case in
question, the need to give-up, the health of the ferret, the current
living situation, etc... When people contact me, they get a long letter
detailing how to place the ferrets, other good places to put up notices,
and advice on screening adopters.  I have driven to get ferrets out of bad
situations only hours after receiving initial word of them more than once.
But most of the time, they can stay in their home until a home is found
or the owner runs out of time and must place them in a ferret shelter.
I figure this is more than they will get from someone taking down a
newspaper ad.  Many of the notes make me very, very sad.  Older ferrets
who have been kept singly their entire lives and in one home are
especially hard for me.
 
ANYway, getting to my point. :)  Even though the notices have me
shaking my head and causing my brain to explode at times, I try not to
editorialize in them when I forward them.  This is because often my note
is included in full when the owners are contacted, and I don't want to
write anything that will make the owner reluctant to correspond with me.
The biggest challenge in running these listings is keeping the current
owner talking, and receiving notice of when to remove listings!  So, I
just try to stick to the facts when listing.
 
Hmmm, I guess that's about it.  Many thanks for indulging the notices on
this list!
 
-Pam S.
[Posted in FML issue 3657]