Thank You, BIG, for the opportunity to respond in the same issue of the
FML so that this misunderstanding does not have a chance to explode.

Our anonymous poster would be correct to be concerned if he/she had all
the facts - I'll glad to clarify. Our 1st trip to the "farm" was not
on March 12th, I'm afraind you took my "two weeks" statement a bit too
literally. Our SECOND TRIP was a month later.

We took mostly males on the 1st as we felt we'd have a greater chance
of faster placement into adoptive homes with boys. All but one on the
2nd trip were females. On both trips, we made the assumption that all
females were pregnant when picked up as they were all in heat and all
in with males. It has since turned out that not all were or are
pregnant.

We left one breeding pair of 4 yrs in with eachother until the weekend
following our March 13th trip - since we assumed she would already have
been pregnant if she was going to get pregnant, (her vulva was down so
we knew they had mated) we didn't see a need to break them up. We
separated them that weekend however, seeing that he was constantly
"pestering" her and seeing no point in allowing that to happen.

Unfortunately, I was not aware that ferrets can conceive more than
once in a breeding period (if I'm saying that right) and there is a
possibility that she could have conceived during those 5 days we had
left this pair together. I wish I had known more and separated the
pair immediately on day one as this particular female later became the
subject of much concern that she was "past due". After all our worries,
emergency ultrasounds and Oxytocin injections, all there was to show
for her long pregnancy was one single, very large kit who appeared to
have been crushed in a contraction at birth and did not survive. I
felt terrible for her.

My initial reaction to Anon's post was to be angry - however, after
thinking about it over a few dozen litter pan cleanings, I have settled
down and say "It's good to question things when they don't add up". But
I do wish he/she would have asked ME before posting suppositions on a
public forum on such a hotly debated subject. Failure to do so makes
me wonder about intent......but only we can know our own intent.

So that there is no further question of MY intent or actions, No, I
didn't take ferrets from the breeding farm only to breed them in our
shelter and No, I have every confidence that my ethics are fully intact
and No, I did not ask the ferret community of the FML, to which I have
belonged for over 10 years WITHOUT question to my integrity, to
contribute to my "DMK ferrets/kits" under any false pretenses.

My involvement in the DMK ferrets was me, trying to do what I felt
was a good thing.- agreeing with it or not is up to each of you
individually; in hindsight, I sometimes question my own decision - not
for anything involving these particular ferrets who have been freed
from their previous living conditions, but because if was not part of a
"total solution". Hindsight's a beautiful thing - but it's pretty hard
to look at these beautiful neutered boys, playing in a rice box and
regretting much of anything. Or these sweet girls who have either been
spared from a life of breeding under such conditions or those who have
or will be able to give birth in clean, comfey and safe surroundings.
And I certainly have no regrets when I look at these prescious little
6oz babies, eyes still closed, color starting to show on their fur
and noses and knowing that we will be able to hand pick their forever
families and give them a better chance at a happy & healthy life than
if I had done nothing. Bottom line is, I did SOMETHING.

If you don't know what we're talking about when I refer to the babies,
you can see their pics and watch for those yet to be delivered on our
website www.theferrethaven.org

Jerri Carel
The Ferret Haven
Louisville, KY

[Posted in FML 5607]