I am writing in regards to Cathy(Zoo) who runs a ferret sanctuary in
Illinois.  I run a ferret shelter in SC out of my home www.pebbspets.com.
I take in unwanted and/or abused ferrets, rehab them if necessary and
adopt them out to a home I inspect beforehand.  However, if I decided to
keep them, they would be my ferrets correct?  Cathy apparently does not
feel that this is the case.  She takes in ferrets, decides to keep
them(which makes them her pets), then asks for donations and receives
501(c)3 status from the government.  She basically states that only she
can take care of these ferrets.
 
What is her limit?  At a certain point, one family would not be able to
care for so many and then she would be causing the same conditions that
they supposedly arrived under.  This is the definition of a collector.
 
Which brings me to another point.  If you read her website every ferret
has some horrible story of abuse or health problem she had to pay for.  I
have had more ferrets than this pass through my doors and only very few
fell in either of these categories.  If I had a horrible story for each
of my ferrets though, I would probably receive more donations.  I feel
giving her any publicity will encourage anyone who owns many animals to
become a "sanctuary".  This will further collectors and animal abuse and
we will pay for it all with our tax dollars.  Kudos to you Zoo.
 
Shirley Pebbles
 
[Moderator's note: I don't know why the subject contained "FML", but
just in case anyone gets the wrong idea: No, the FML has nothing to do
with running that sanctuary!  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 3998]