Re: goldfish, hunting, et. al.
 
>fed live animals.  i know that people feed their snakes rats, but at least
>it's because that's the only thing that most snakes can live on.  maybe the
>black-footed ferret needs to hunt small fish and rodents in the wild, but
 
Unless I'm mistaken (which happens often enough!), I do believe the diet of
BFF's consists almost entirely of prairie dogs.  When the ranchers started
obliterating prairie dogs towns, the BFF's had nothing to eat and starved.
That lead to their near demise as a species.
 
As far as feeding raw meat, ferrets hunting and killing, and so on....while
it may sometimes cause a heartache (as in the death of a beloved gerbil) or
sometimes repulsion, we do have to realize that our little fat house ferts
were and to some extent still are hunters.  We can't be mad at them for
being what they are.  But hopefully, we are smart enough and we can avoid
any situations where their hunting instincts may cause a heart break.
 
As hunters and carnivores, ferrets were built to hunt, kill, and eat small
animals - raw!  And so I see no reason why a healthy ferret couldn't safely
consume unspoiled, raw meat.  I think most of the problems that pet animals
have with uncooked meat is caused by people feeding their animals stuff that
they would never eat themselves (read as spoiled or unsafe).
 
Goldfish....I'm slugging my way through more then a week's worth of FML's
that I haven't had a chance to read yet.  I've started with this past
weekend's FML's and saw the discussion about letting one's ferrets "play"
with goldfish.  Giving one's pets live toys is a fairly heartless thing to
do.  I have heard of people doing cruel things like having their dogs kill
cats that have gotten cornered somewhere - I'm sure we would all agree that
is cruel.  And while the players have changed, it is the same situation as
the ferret and the goldfish.  Is the goldfish deserving of less compassion
simply because it doesn't have fur and is far less intelligent then a cat?
 
Re: Marshall Farms
 
>[Moderator's note: Tara is new to this list and hasn't had to endure our
>quarterly Marshall Farms debates.  I *really* doubt any new info will come
>out of this round and I likely will be calling an end to the topic VERY
>soon.  In the meantime, I encourage interested readers who haven't been
>through the debates to search the FML archives over the last few months
>for a wealth of information.  Please keep comments to the list pertinent
>to Marshall's specifically.  Thanks!  BIG]
 
Thanks for the reminder, Bill! :)
 
To all the newer FML members, Bill is giving you some really excellent
advice here if you are interested in the issues surrounding Marshall Farms.
In the years I have read the FML, I've seen the discussions about Marshall
Farms resurface every few months.  You definately won't have a hard time
finding these threads in the archives!  ;)
 
BTW, please read the these MF threads carefully.  There are plenty of "he
said", "she said", "I heard", "I think", etc.  in regards to the
"information" often posted about Marshall Farms.  There is real information
posted too, but it is often hidden amongst the many purely emotional posts.
 
[I saw a Marshall Farms van on my way to work today and wondered when the
MF thread would show up again here. I guess my answer was waiting for me!]
 
-kim, squirt (the fuzz), pippi (hunter gal), atlas (the fuzz that would be
 king), and jinx (the shadow fuzz)
 
Kimberly Burkard     |             _    Everything I needed to know in life,
Eastman Kodak Company|      _____C .._. I learned from my ferret:
Rochester, New York  | ____/     \___/  Frolic and dance for joy often, have
[log in to unmask]    |<____/\_---\_\    no fear or worries, and enjoy life.
[Posted in FML issue 2327]