Renessa, we also are in Somerset County in NJ and we've had ferrets in
our family for 21 and 1/2 years. We use Dr. Joe Martins of Bellemead
Animal Hospital, 872 Route 206, 1-908-874-4447. He is marvelous!
Excellent surgeon, marvelous diagnostician, and he adores ferrets. We've
told a number of people about him so you can let him know that you are
one more if you want. Oh, and he is very good about using consultants
and always learning. That is why our Seven of Six lived something like 9
months with a Complete A/V Heart Node block which could have taken her at
any time, and why those months were able to be kept happy ones. He did
the same sort of thing recently for Ashling who had carcinoma.
---
It is counter-productive for ferret people in general to hold on to anger
too tightly after Ben Stiller has apologized twice.
All too often in contests there is an apparent winner who then loses and
in those cases so very, very often it is that person's or group's own
fault, because the person or group didn't look at the full picture and
behave in accordance with good information, the social norms of the
culture in question, how a message comes over, etc. Look at Dean. Some
are saying the capture of Saddam is why he lost ground in the caucus, but
if you look at the polls it happened when he got nasty. I do not think
that he meant to appear nasty -- just angry -- but he doesn't portray
anger well at times so it comes off as more nasty than angry -- which
is a very real pitfall many of us can fall into, too. I know that I at
times have the exact same problem. He lost it for himself, so now he
knows what NOT to do...
That's important to remember: we (the ferret community) HAVE ALREADY WON
THIS BATTLE. If we continue sending angry messages the result is that we
will be painted as a pile of loonies, people will be afraid of doing
pictures or TV shows with ferrets in them (even good portrayals) because
they will think, "Even good things rile those ferret people so let's just
totally avoid them.", etc. That result would be a matter of us having
been winners of a battle who then lost the war all by ourselves despite
having been ahead... We could instead win yet one more battle (the one to
show that we are NOT nasty, unbalanced, illogical people who need a life)
by showing ourselves to be logical and gracious and saying thank you for
the apologies or at least for the shows which made them possible. That
can only help ferrets. ---
This is what I sent to the the View:
Do you know the smile you get when you watch films of otters sliding down
snowy hillsides?
Why would it surprise your various co-hosts then that people respond with
the same friendly appreciation for their cousin, the domestic ferret?
Those of us who adore these four footed family members have as much of a
life as those with dogs, cats, horses, or parrots.
Ferrets are friendly, intelligent, curious (rather like an investigative
reporter!) and safe.
If you would like more basic ferret facts, such as info about their long
domestication (>2,500 years), their safety (lower serious bite rate per
capita animal than dogs, effective USDA approved rabies vaccine since
1990, extensive CDC studies showing their safety which so greatly pleased
the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians in 1998
that their treatment when the rare bite does occur is now the same as
for dogs or cats, etc.) I would be pleased to help line you up with some
experts.
Please, there are millions of pet ferrets in the U.S. and according to
Ken Wells of the Wall Street Journal they account for about 2 billion
dollars contributed to the national economy annually.
A gracious apology to ferret people would be in order.
[Posted in FML issue 4399]
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