Someone posted about a shelter that asked questions about marital status,
household income, work schedule, children, etc.  and seemed genuinely
offended by those questions.  My feeling is that it borders on
irresponsiblity of the shelters NOT to investigate these issues to some
degree before adoption to a home.  "Owning" ferrets does not automatically
make you a suitable candidate to own more.  Judging from my (admittedly
limited) experiences, there are quite a few folks out there with ferrets
that either should not have them (i.e. never home, can't afford basic vet
bills, don't have any desire to learn about what their pet needs), or who
don't know how to care properly for them and are unwilling to learn.
Unfortuantely, those people probably don't subscribe to the FML.  I would
say most ferret owners want to give their ferrets the world, but simply
aren't educated enough to know what 'good' is.  Many people in my community
don't know that ferrets need vaccinations, shouldn't be on MeowMix,
shouldn't be kept in pine beddings, have a scruff-reflex, etc.  Most of
these folks are very enthusiastic about learning more.  These are the people
I don't mind adopting to because I know that they are willing to learn what
their pet needs to be healthy.
 
Back to the original point (now that I've rambled a bit off topic).  It's
the obligation of the shelter to ensure that their ferrets are adopted out
to the most suitable homes possible.  If you have 3 children under the age
of 5, a $15000/year income, are single, and have 4 ferrets, 2 dogs, and 3
cats (all unvaccinated), should this person be allowed to adopt a ferret?  I
would not adopt to this person.  If the only thing the shelter asked was,
"Do you have any ferrets so that you know how to care for them?" the answer
would be, "Yes," and the screening would be over.  Please bear in mind that
I'm by no means accusing the original poster of being an unfit 'parent,' but
the questions are asked to make _sure_ the ferrets go to a decent home.
 
                           -Erin...
 
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  |\/  Mr. Erin M. Ennis, Water Resources Major, University of Vermont  /\|
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[Posted in FML issue 2286]