Dear folks, who have enquired about what happens at the Ferret
Frolics/Ferret Olympics.
 
Thanks for the inquiry about the Ferret Olympics.  Let me briefly summarize
this happening(s).
 
The ferret olympics takes place twice yearly - always the last Sundays of
June and August, and always at the same place: Sayre's Park on the west
shore of Lake Washington, 3808 Lake Washington Blvd South, 12 noon and on.
 
The pupose(s) of these olympics is to (1) bring before the public in a
public park the domesticated house ferret, (2) to demonstrate the degree of
cooperation that can exist between a ferret and its owner (3) to expand the
frontiers of knowledge about dynamic ferret behavior and thereby contribute
to the body of science, and (4) to have joy, fun, and comradeship with our
ferrets and others of similar ilk.
 
Ferrets NorthWest FNW is the sponsor and executor of the olympic games, as a
not-for-profit benevolent charitable organization headquartered on Mercer
Island Washington, where is located the FNW shelter, boarding facility for
ferrets, and ferret adoption agency of both rescued ferrets, fostered
ferrets, and newly bred, PUREBRED ferret kits (babies).  FNW requests that
all participants in the Ferret Olympics tender at least a $5.00 contribution
to FNW to help defray the cost of materials that are purchased for the
events.  Any other donations directed to support of our Ferret Shelter are
most gratefully appreciated.
 
Our recent olympics, held on 28 June at Sayre's Park, scheduled the
following events: Three flags flagpole race, Paper bag escape contest,
Fastest Licker in the West, Yawning contest, Intelligence test, Kissing
contest, Jockey contest, Balloon buster contest, Snacking contest, Hearing
response test, Slithering contest, Ball push contest, Ice-cube push contest,
Swimming contest, Sprinting contest, Ferret feel-finder contest, Eskimo toss
contest and a Ferret/owner look-alike costume contest.  The 1st 2nd and 3rd
place winners of these contests are awarded Certificates of Ferret Merit.,
usually mailed to such contestants several days later, after the results are
tabulated and verified.  Historically, seldom are all these events completed
in one afternoon and the majority vote usually determines which events are
done.  As one may expect, the larger the number of attendees, the greater is
the amount of time expended per event and the fewer the number of events
run.
 
The Ferret Olympics are open to the general public, held in the public
domain, and are not a commercial venture put on for the benefit of any one
specific veterinarian or business enterprise.  Our motto is: Frettchen
Vergnuegen !  which is an expression in the German language that can be
translated as, "The joy of ferrets!"
 
Edware Lipinski, Director of Ferrets NorthWest FNW.
Der Frettchenlustbarkeitsfuehrer  [G.]  Ferret frolics leader. (sometimes
referred to as the "Ferret Nazi.")
[Posted in FML issue 2356]