Okay, before this this degenerates any further, I would like to point out
that this is not a war between breeders and shelters...why are we trying to
make it into one? Do we have nothing better to do with our time than decide
who has the right to breed and/or shelter ferrets? I guess I must have
missed CA legalizing ferrets and the entire USA agreeing to follow the 1998
Compendium since we have so much time to debate on this subject.
 
Gang, we are all in this together for the betterment of ferrets and bashing
responsible private breeders, the ones who are trying to improve the
domestic ferret lines so that our babies live longer and do not get adrenal
disease, insulinoma, lympho, and whatever else is not right. They are
giving us an alternative to petstore purchases, a chance to have a ferret
that is not forced from it's mother and altered at 4 weeks of age. Isn't
this what we want?
 
For as much as everyone bitches about how "bad" the ranches are, I would
think that responsible breeders would be welcome.  Do you really want a
world where the only place you can get a ferret is from a petstore that
orders from Marshall Farms or some other big ranch and they are so badly
bred that they die of insulinoma or adrenal disease or lympho by the age of
5 or 6?  That's what will happen if we don't have private breeders with
alternative breeding lines because I don't see any of the ranches trying to
improve on them.  Why should they?  The sooner the ferrets get sick and die,
the sooner we'll be back to buy a replacement.
 
Responsible breeders are breeding to improve the genetic lines of the
domestic ferret, not just come up with a fancy new color.  They also are
more discriminate about who takes their babies home than the local petstore.
Not all breeders are responsible, but the ones that aren't probably aren't
located on this list.
 
Yes, we have an overpopulation problem in shelters, but the root of this
problem is not the private breeder.  The problem is the ranches, the
petstores and the uneducated-about-ferrets impulse buyer.
 
I think we need to step back and agree to disagree on this issue.  It's
getting to the point where everyone is picking apart everyone else's
responses for snide remarks and sarcastic overtones.  If we can't get back
into a genuine discussion, let's stop it and move onto something more
productive.
 
Mary and the gang of 9...
 
Mary McCarty-Houser
Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association
Director, Centre County Branch
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/ferretlady
[Posted in FML issue 2314]