This is really scary.  For the press to pick up on this and glorify this
woman for what she does will not only cause more ferrets to be turned in
to her, but will cause more people who are looking for recognition to do
the same.  I looked around on her web site and I see that many of these
ferrets are adopted from other shelters or bought outright.  These
ferrets are not sanctuary ferrets, they are her personal ferrets.  Many
of us have ferrets that we've adopted from shelters, but that does not
make each of us a sanctuary worthy of federal tax exemption.
 
A sanctuary is a home/refuge for animals that could not possibly survive
without very specific care that only that place can provide.  Domestic
pets do not fall into this category for many reasons, but mainly because
there is always somewhere else that they could go and still survive and
live happily.  Sanctuaries are for wild animals - orphans and injured or
sick animals that need rehabilitation or supportive care.  I have been
reading the interesting exchanges concerning the term 'exotic' and
ferrets and people fighting for their ferrets to not be thought of as
wild animals or exotics.  You can't have it both ways.  Either they're
wild/exotic and can only survive in sanctuaries, or they are domestic
cherished pets.  'Sanctuaries' such as this one only hurt the cause to
convince the public that our wonderful ferrets are harmless, furry family
members and not wild weasels that will run off, create feral communities
and terrorize neighborhoods.
 
I worry that after this article, more and more people will give their
ferrets over to 'Zoo' and sooner or later this is going to become another
rescue situation.  I'm sure that these ferrets are cared for to the best
of Zoo's ability, but how well can anyone care for 56 ferrets with more
on the way?  Please write to the reporter who wrote this story in hopes
that we can convince him to write a counter-article or correct what was
written.
 
Ingrid
[Posted in FML issue 3998]