>From:    Ronnie DiComo <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: squeaky toy reaction & MF reaction
>I am greatly saddened and totally mystified by people who are constantly
>defending MF's practices.
 
Who would that be?  I know of no one who defends all of their practices.
Especially their early forced weaning and too early neutering anyway.
There is debate on how too early that neutering is.  But everyone does
seem to think its "too early".
 
No one defends what they appear to do with retirees.  Though no one has
ever come up with a legitimate answer to the problem.
 
Now the efforts Marshall is making on behalf of ferret legalization
particularly in California.  We number ourselves among those who defend
that.
 
Their efforts in supporting the fight against diseases such as ECE we
support.
 
Their efforts to aid vaccine development.  Well we support that.
 
Its a mixed bag.
 
>I can't think of any dog or cat people who actively support large scale
>breeders selling unweaned puppies or kittens to any pet store who will
>buy them;
 
No one really "supports" this.  Never seen anyone write in favor of that.
Certainly not us.  We do acknowledge that there are not enough ferrets
coming from hobby breeders to satisfy the demand for kits.  But that isn't
really supporting pet store sales.  Just acknowledging what we perceive
as reality.
 
>or who place ads in scientific magazines saying how nice their kittens
>and puppies are for research, not having any idea what kind of research
>they will be used for.
 
Well kits and puppies.  Marshal doesn't do cats to our knowledge anyway.
 
Well only certain forms of animal testing are legal.  Strict government
regulations are in place to prohibit "vivisection" or other cruel testing.
Some testing is less tasteful than others.  Some testing is perfectly
acceptable to some people but not to other people.  If there was a universal
opinion against - than testing would go away immediately.  Ferrets used in
training doctors intubation of infants seems most acceptable to us anyway.
Can't think of any testing that someone actually knows about that is a
problem.
 
Now the sales into research which is basically animal rights issues - the
list moderator seems to think the subscribership is united on that.  It
isn't by any means.
 
>I honestly don't understand why people think this is ok for ferrets.
 
Why not ferrets?  Ferrets are unfortunately well suited to research in
certain areas due to physiological similarities to humans.  And in other
areas do to special idiosyncracies.
 
>I would love to see someone like HSUS get involved and take a stand on
>large scale ferret breeding.
 
We would love for the HSUS to go away permanently on ferret issues.  But
pointing out flaws in the HSUS is a forbidden topic here.  But if there was
any money in donations for attacking ferret ranches than the HSUS would be
involved.  We ferret fanatics are still too small a number and the more
radical among us are not the wealthiest so the donations aren't there.  The
HSUS is not involved in many areas where there is no money in donations.
 
The entire Marshall Farms issue is full of shades of gray and subtle
nuances.  But that is bascially true of everything in life.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2335]