Back in December, I posted here on the FML a story about a beautiful,
gentle and young female ferret found in someone's backyard here in
Sacramento.  This ferret was wearing a collar with a bell on it.  She was
immediately nicknamed, Tinkerbell.  Tinkerbell had obviously been well
loved and cared for.  Even her toenails were properly clipped.  She was
picked up on Nov 17th by our club president.
 
The rest of the story was very sad and messy.  Most of club members know
nothing about it.  I chose not to tell it, because there seemed no point.
Last night something happened to make me change my mind.  Last night my
little Angel somehow got out of my house.  I didn't realize she was gone
until midnight.  I walked my street from midnight to 1:30AM looking for
her.  I cried and I prayed to find her.  I kept thinking, "This is
California.  No one here knows I have ferrets.  If I put up fliers or
knock on doors, someone might turn me in, then I would lose all my little
ones."  I was becoming resigned to just letting her go, when I suddenly
saw some movement in my neighbor's yard.  It was my Angel.  The brat was
wet and happy.  She'd been having the time of her life.
 
It was then that I realized I should tell the whole story about Tinkerbell
to, hopefully, facilitate her return to her family.  They obviously loved
her dearly and were excellent ferret parents.  They deserve to get her
back.  So, here's the rest of the story.
 
Tinkerbell had been found in the backyard of a house-bound woman with 3
cats.  Tinkerbell was sleeping with these cats and eating their food.  She
was probably no more than 2-3 houses down from where her family lives.
Finding them would have required someone putting up fliers and knocking on
doors.
 
Within 24 hours of picking up Tinkerbell, our club president had promised
her to a friend who is an avid collector of young and beautiful ferrets.
She waited 2 weeks, then tried to hand Tinkerbell over to this friend.
The one club member who knew about the situation at that time protested,
because she knew nothing had been done to find Tinkerbell's family.  She
volunteered to do the legwork to find these people.  She just needed to
know exactly where the ferret had been found, so she could put on her
"ferret legalization" T shirt and start knocking on doors in the
neighborhood.
 
Our club president refused the club member's request.  She told her that
the ferret had been promised to her friend and she wasn't going to
disappoint her friend.  The club member was then frozen out of the club,
but not before she repeated the story to a couple of people in the club.
 
One of our shelter moms approached our president to also request that this
club member be allowed to find Tinkerbell's family.  The shelter mom was
told that there was a new 2-week policy on foundling ferrets.  If the
owner hadn't approached the club within 2 weeks, then the ferret would be
adopted out.  Even if the people who lost the ferret were later found, she
wouldn't be returned to them, because the ferret had been promised to her
friend.  (It's a shame that this friend isn't willing to adopt one of the
many club surrenders that have been waiting months in our shelter for a
good home.) Anyway, this shelter mom was also frozen out of the club for
her trouble.
 
As I mentioned before, I don't want the rest of our club to know the
truth.  They would all drop out.  I posted the abbreviated story back in
December, because I hoped it would push our president and her friend into
listening to their consciences and allowing this ferret's family to be
found.  It didn't work.  Our club is supposed to be about ferret rescue,
not ferret collecting.  I believe that ferret rescue includes returning
lost ferrets to their families.  Tinkerbell's family is there in the
neighborhood where she was lost.  She didn't travel far.  She stopped at
the first bowl of cat food she found and she stayed there for 3 days
before our club picked her up.  Her family has the right to get her back.
 
Does anyone have any suggestions?
[Posted in FML issue 3678]