Hi Jennifer ... and fml
 
I agree that the ad sounds very distasteful ... and I do feel very sad for
ferrets that are sold to laboratories ...
 
On the other hand, w/o ibuprofin, my headaches would kill me.  I thank the
animals that made this product available to me.
 
W/o my antibiotics, I'd never get rid of bronchitis.  Again, I thank the
animals that made these drugs avaliable to me.
 
W/o my birth control pills, I would be much poorer than I am now.  Again, I
thank ...
 
Do you see what I'm getting at?  Just about any product in your medical
cabinet is there because animals were made available for testing it.
 
Not to mention distemper and rabies vaccines.  And all the other medical
care available for animals.  W/o "using" some ferrets, how could we know
anything about ferret diseases?
 
It's a sad fact that ferrets make very good research animals, because they
are hardier and have more stamina than mice or rats.  A drug side-effect
that kills a mouse may very well not cause much discomfort in a human.
 
Marshall Farms donates ferrets to the rabies-shed study.  Am I willing to
donate my ferrets to that study, even though it's an important one?
Absoulutly not.  Are you?  No.  Someone has to, because the only way we have
a chance to fight "kill and test" policies is to prove that ferrets die
before they shed the disease.  The only way to prove this is to infect some
ferrets with rabies.
 
I'm too practical to be against animal testing for human and animal benefit,
especially in the medical field.
 
I am, however, very much against testing cosmetic products on animals.
We've all heard the sad torture stories.  If you web search "animal right"
you should find some lists of companies that do and don't use animal testing
for their products--lots of cosmetic companies.  I try to not buy from
companies where I feel animal testing is unnecessary.  If you don't want to
read horror stories that will make you cry your eyes out, tread carefully
when choosing sites to visit, and stay away from PETA.
 
Marshall isn't all bad--I have two Marshall ferrets that have the most
wonderful temperaments.  And there's been some discusison about Marhsall
giving retired breeders to vet schools for spay training.  That's good.
They could add more in care of ferrets to their brochure, certainly.  It's
actually a product catalog with 1 page of ferret information, and that info
is very general, and (I don't think) overly helpful to a first time ferret
owner.
 
There will be fault to find with any large company that works extensively
with animals, any large breeder of any species.  And I'm not saying we
should close our eyes to those faults, but we all have to be rational before
getting emotional on some of these issues.
 
Don't take this as a flame, it's not meant that way.
 
--Sheri and  Pepper, Mort, Uno, Feather, BB (ferrets), dog Harley, and
love of my life, Dave.
 
"Until our paths find us together
        may you forever
            go in peace."
 
--Mike Rayburn (comic entertainer and folk artist)
[Posted in FML issue 2000]