There was a serious snowstorm even blizzard situation in Virginia, Maryland
and Washington DC as well.  We've checked with several of the local ferret
folks in Virginia and Maryland; of course since this is one of the major
ferret centers in the country there are many shelters and breeders.  So far
of course everything is fine.  Governors and Mayors have been declaring
states of emergency with National Guard called out as well.  Does the FFDRI
need a local contact?  A delayed disgest like this is not necessarally the
best way for an immediate response group to get out needed information so
perhaps it would be benificial if the FFDRI would set up a more immediate
notification system.  The internet could be used and a system could be tuned
to notify only those who need the information.  Based on comments about the
FFDRI system being down recently perhaps a more robust and even redundant
system should be set up.  Also is the FFDRI really international?  There are
lots of ferret folks in Canada, some in Mexico, Asia, Australia and many
many in Europe.  Hard to achive international status with limitted funds but
I'm getting more and more international contacts and the FML is world-wide.
 
The goals set forth be the FFDRI are very important and perhaps gaining the
co-operation and support of all of the national ferret groups should be a
goal.  It is also very important that adequate human and systematic
resources be in place to deal with these emergencies.  What can we do to
help?  Computers and networking is my day job so I might be able to help in
those areas.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
 
[Moderator's note: The FFDRI has been sending out mail on AOL all day.  But
AOL mail has been sick lately, so a backup is certainly not a bad idea,
IMHO.  There was a suggestion that airports be checked for animals in cargo
holding, but luckily, somehow, there seemed to be no immediate emergencies.
Considering the extent of the storm, that's pretty amazing.  (I have to sore
arms from shovelling snow to prove it it was a bad storm :-)) BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1438]