Hello,
 
>From:    "Melissa A. Durfee" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: breeding
>Assuming that one accepts the premise that ferrets should be kept as pets
 
I'm not trying to be a smart ass, really, but I read this twice and still
don't understand what you meant by it?  Was there a discussion on whether
ferrets should be kept at all as pets?  Or is this a personal feeling?
 
>I think we should support responsible private breeders over "ferret
>mills" like Marshall Farms and Path Valley.  The big breeding farms
>rely on impulse purchases at pet stores for their income; I would guess
>that these purchases represent the majority of surrenders at shelters.
 
I can play the devil's advocate, because this *is* the way I got my
ferrets.  I received my first baby as a present.  We had just moved and
got her about three months later.  It was a good four months until we found
alt.pets.ferrets on the newsgroup.  It was our only resource for info (the
incredibly terrible source that it is).  It was some time later that we
found the FML and stopped reading the newsgroup.  It was almost a year
until we found Modern Ferret magazine.
 
My point?  I didn't know what a Marshall Farms ferret was until almost a
year and a half after we got Boo.  I didn't know there *were* other places
to get my babies.  All 5 of them are MF babies, and I couldn't be prouder,
but that's not the point.  The only place I have ever seen ANY advertising
for ferrets other than MF is in Modern Ferret.
 
That, it seems, is not Marshall Farms problem.  They're huge, they
advertise.  How is a potential buyer supposed to know what is out there?
I didn't.  Yes, our first ferret was an impulse buy.  Our other 4 sure
weren't, and the 4 were are going to adopt on top of that aren't.
 
There is no way for people to know about "private breeders".  Most people
think I'm kidding when I say there are ferret shelters, let alone private
stock.
 
I don't mean it as a slam or anything, it's just the way it is.  And that's
a problem for some of you (by reading the opinions on the "ferret mills"
and such).  So how do you fix it?
 
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 2526]