>No other animal shelters here take ferrets, so please help him to help
>the ferrets!
 
That kind of statement always scares me, and having ferret shelters have
to end for time or money reasons isn't rare and is always sad for the
hard working people and the ferrets.  I can't help but wonder what can be
done to encourage general shelters to look to caring for ferrets, too.
Has anyone ever tried to survey club members and then write to respected
local shelters (general ones -- again ones you respect) and say something
like, "In a quick survey we found that our members would be able to
provide (X number of dollars) in donations if you took in ferrets and
treated them as well as you treat dogs and cats.  In such a case we would
be willing as a group to work to help you raise fund in the future as
well" If so, how did it turn out?  What other approaches have been
tried?  What approaches have worked for people and clubs?  If you know
of something that worked for other species then ferret folks could learn
from that, too.
 
Blossom, just do be careful to not confuse NY City and NY State.  NY City
is where they are illegal, but like Bill says it doesn't have much impact
(and it also has a bunch of challenges some of which have come pretty
close to succeeding).  If I recall right the Rockaways are in Nassau so
the NYC ban would not apply, ditto the Albany area vet request.
 
Many ferrets have pretty lousy eye sight.  I know that I have at
times seen ads for companies that work plexiglass along railings for
babyproofing, and gates or pocket doors could be another possible option.
 
Ferret info proofing in general for anyone: resources like
http://www.ferretcentral.org (not com), and _Ferrets for Dummies_
are extremely useful and very inclusive.  I am sure that folks will
have more such resources to mention, too.
 
Oh, neat!  Friday's FML has several good new useful websites with info to
enjoy, and I know a video I will want to get for Christmas or buy with
some Christmas money, too.
[Posted in FML issue 3975]