On April 6, >Is it true that the Humane Society against the ferret?< was
posted to the FML.
 
>There is a group HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) that
>pretends to be a humane association.  It is anti-pet and almost
>just another version of PeTA...  There are other groups using the
>word Humane as part of their name that are true humane groups...
 
Bill Killian's response to Annie Wright's question about the HSUS being
anti-ferret brought back a memory (not so long past).  It isn't
ferert-related, but it WAS an eye-opener.
 
My SO is blind and has used dog guides since 1977.  There's nothing quite
like being approached while using a service dog and being loudly berated for
"abusing" an animal, "forcing" it to do "unnatural" things.  He's been on
the receiving end of that sort of tirade off and on for years, and by
so-called "animal rights activists." That is exactly the sort of behavior
that gives people who REALLY work for the welfare of animals a bad name.
Kyrie (the current dog guide) LOVES what she does, and she's certainly not
*abused*.  None of the service dogs I have met didn't like what they were
doing.  In fact, they enjoy their work (ever try to make an animal do
something it really didn't want to do?  It's really hard, folks).
 
Just my $0.02.
 
[Moderator's note: OK, folks, please keep it to ferrets.  If we get off
on PETA etc. discussions the digests will be 14,000 lines rather than
"only" 1400.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1534]