My comments about shelters seems to have struck a nerve or two, with many
negative comments aimed at my singling out "their" shelter for public
ridicule.  Of course, that is preposterous, especially since I made the
outstanding and highly intelligent decision not to mention any club or
shelter, any town, any state, any geographic location, or even country.  I
suspect the comments struck home deeply.  Think about it.
 
So tell me.  if there are admitted problems with shelters, how do we fix
them without discussing them?  There are some issues about shelters that
need to be discussed; things like ferret load, out-of-cage time, human
interaction time, crowd stress and the like.  These are questions that
currently have NO answers, only opinions.  As they say, in the world of
opinions, mine are as good as yours.  The problem with opinions is that
people tend to hold them dearly, as if they were actual real things, or if
their personal self-worth was somehow tied to them, so an attack on an
opinion becomes an attack on the person.  Think about how silly that is,
and how foolish the person becomes in such an opinion war.
 
Debate, on the other hand, is the discussion of ideas in such a manner
that the truth of them can be sorted out.  In other words, the ideas are
discussed, not the person, so the best ideas are kept, allowing the bad
ideas to die the death they deserve.  For debate to work, it must be fair,
which means everyone should be allowed to say what they think without the
fear of someone flaming them.  I personally know dozens of people who are
scared to say anything on the FML for fear of flames from people who hold
their opinions to be "truths" or "facts." If your goal is to increase your
ego at the expense of others, then I guess a good flame is a cheap way to
do it.  But if your goal is the betterment of ferret lives, then you may
want to consider debate as a tool for, uh, ferreting out the truth.
 
We NEED to discuss shelters and the problems associated with them, and the
FML is a good place to start. Lets DEBATE the issues, ok?
 
Q: "....what is your take on the idea that [photoperiodism] is the reason
    for adrenal problems?"
 
A: It might lighten our load, but I am currently still in the dark.
 
I have nothing but respect for Dr. Bell, and in fact find many of the
negative comments made about her from time to time to be undeserved.  She
is a highly intelligent veterinarian with more experience with ferrets
than can be found in some entire states.  I believe her ideas about
photoperiodism being linked to adrenal problems to be exciting and
promising.  She may be on to something important.
 
One thing that bothers me is the lack of skepticism from both sides of the
issue.  Those that think she is right have started building light-tight
boxes, and those that think she is wrong might be leaving their lights
on all night as far as I can tell.  Being skeptical is the tool of the
researcher who wishes to discover the truth of something.  But the skeptic
not only says "prove it," they also say, "prove it in a manner that leaves
no doubt."  In other words, for me to accept adrenal tumors are the result
of unnatural photoperiod cycles, I would have to be shown data that exclude
other factors, such as food, stress, viral agents, genetics, and chance, to
name a few.  And friends, THAT has not been done in the slightest.  From
the reports I have seen, the only evidence is completely unscientific in
nature, which means it is not evidence at all.  Now, to be honest, this
doesn't mean Dr. Bell is wrong; it just means it isn't proven, as I am sure
she would be the first to agree.
 
I think what concerns me most is the potential for the creation of a
"darkness cult" where people become convinced of a solution without the
evidence to back it up.  For example; say someone builds a poop-load of dark
boxes for their 10 ferrets, and in a year, no one comes down with adrenal
disease.  Did the boxes work?  Or was it chance, and half will show adrenal
disease in the next year.  Or perhaps it isn't light at all, but a reduction
of stress caused by a better feeling of security for ferrets living in the
boxes.  Or hundreds of other things.  Soon, you have the same feeling of
conviction that some people have about ferrets being domesticated by the
Egyptians, or that they were domesticated before the cat, only in this
case, it is about adrenal disease and photoperiodism.
 
It's like this.  I have special powers and everyone who gives me 20 bucks
will be protected from pianos falling on their head.  Sure enough, no one
who gives me the money gets squashed by a piano.  I must be right, correct?
You can easily see I'm a crook, so I doubt even the "Out-of-Egypt" cult
members would send $20 to someone as deserving as me.  But its the same
thing as accepting any treatment that is unscientifically proven to be
effective.  Now it may be I do have powers and abilities beyond those of
mortal man, so the $20 bucks is a good investment.  But how do you KNOW?
You don't, because there is NO CAUSAL LINKAGE.
 
*I* have a few questions, and I don't mean to imply Dr. Bell has not
considered these on her own.  If photoperiodism IS the problem, then why
the low per-animal incidence of adrenal disease?  Why do some ferrets,
exposed to lots of artifical light throughout their lives, never exhibit
the disease?  Why does the disease seem to be centered in the USA, and not
seen in a high degree in pets from other countries where they are also kept
under artificial light?  Does stress or diet play a contributing role?
Does it run in families?  Why the high incidence in shelter ferrets?
 
It is obvious to me that Dr. Bell has a great idea, and one that might be a
correct answer, but it is far from proven.  Do I think the dark box idea
should be dumped?  NOT AT ALL!  Ferrets LOVE dark boxes, and I think that
in the very least, the boxes reduce stress.  Do I think ferrets should be
mantained on a "natural" photoperiod cycle?  Absolutely!  But I have to
point out that Bear, who has been kept on a natural cycle most of his life,
recently had adrenal surgery.  I think photoperiodism is a piece of the
puzzle, but without facts, it is just an opinion and we need to investigate
and debate the issue more fully.
 
Bob C and 20 Mo' Skeptical Pear-Shaped Carpet Monkees (hey hey)
[Posted in FML issue 2512]