First of all, our hearts go out to those whose ferrets lives have been
tragically cut short, and for all the ferret mommies and daddies who
really loved them.
 
At Especially Ferrets Inc., we are not new to losing ferrets.  Some come
in so badly damaged that there isn't anything anyone can do to save them.
To think of losing them to a fire or something we could've prevented,
would just kill me.  We adhere to our policies at the shelter strictly and
because of this, some folks have been asked to leave our shelter.  Some
kindly and others not so kindly.  One of our policies is we DO NOT adopt
ferrets out to families with children under seven yrs old.  There have
been a couple times when we made an exception to this rule but not many
times.  Considering the amount of ferrets that go through here, it's a
miniscule amout.  Point is, some folks hate us, as they can't stand
rejection.  Some of them can't take a hint when you say, I'm sorry, you
don't qualify.  We have had the Fire Dept called, the Police, Animal
Control, All of the Humane societies and the State Vet called in on us and
complaints filed.  At first, they all found little things wrong.  We fixed
the problems and are now so sqeaky clean, that they really look stupid
when they try to get us in trouble now.
 
We had an alarm put in by a guy whose ferret we saved a couple years ago.
He had changed the ferrets food suddenly and the poor thing just quit
eating as they can do at times.  We helped him through it and didn't
charge him #1 we aren't licensed to practice vet medicine, and he was
unemployued at the time.  Later on, he became a mgr for an alarm co. and
donated a free alarm system to us.  It has door, smoke, heat, and motion
sensor alarms as well as a panic button for the girls when they are here
by themselves.  We also obtained a product called Fire Void( I hope this
OK Bill) that really works.  My son used to sell it but being 21 and
trying to make a living at his first sales job...well, some of you know
what that is like.  We put the stuff to the test, and it really works.  We
coated all the walls where there are ferrets and around all switches and
sockets where a fire may start.  We do not allow smoking on the premises.
The thought of 130 ferrets having to be moved quickly in the event of a
fire made us cringe so we took precautions to make we didn't have to do
it.  Hope all with shelters will do the same.  If you want more info on
Fire Void, please E-mail me.  Please be informed, I don't sell it, just
know where you can get it.
 
Hugs to all,
Ferretguy
[Posted in FML issue 3113]