Is it normal for female ferrets to get scabs on their necks during breeding?
 
I made the mistake of paying a visit to the local "we've got to get these
guys out of the business of selling ferrets" pet store.  This store was
recently convicted of multiple counts of cruelty to animals, largely
stemming from lack of food or water and an excess of feces in cages.  Their
ferrets now have plenty of food and water and their cages are cleaned
regularly, but all is not well, in my opinion.
 
This store got a bunch of kits last summer.  They have about 30 left, mostly
males, and I doubt anyone will buy any of them ever.  They are kept in six
30 gallon aquariums, five to a tank, in a back room behind a closed door.
None of the ferrets are altered.  I doubt anyone but me and a few others
have handled them in the last few months.  Most of them are getting pretty
fat.  I have suggested to the owners several times that they at least build
an exercise area where the ferrets could run around (they have the room to
do it), but the answer was, "Why?  All they do is sleep."
 
On this latest visit, I noticed that many of the ferrets have scabs around
their necks, and I witnessed a few fights.  Most aquariums have multiple
unaltered males, and the fights I saw were between males that shared their
aquarium with females in heat (the store is looking forward to "having some
more kits to sell" as a result of this strategy, but I am not convinced they
will be successful).  There was one female "boarder" there, who was in to
get bred (and had been there for almost two weeks when I visited), and her
neck was scabby too.
 
What would you do?  Are there legal grounds for any action here?  I fear
that these ferrets will start dying off eventually.  It's all I can do not
to stick a few in my jacket and walk out with them, but the store owners
know who I am and where to find me.  They won't let them go for under $50
each, and besides, I have no desire to give them another cent.  I read about
massive rescue efforts in other parts of the country, and these ferrets seem
just as deserving, but I find the prospects quite overwhelming without the
large support network that exists elsewhere (I am in Missoula, Montana, a
place with such a low-density ferret population that the Humane Society,
which takes in *any* homeless animal, virtually never sees a homeless
ferret, even though the other pet store in town dispenses about 5 MF kits
into the community each month).  And then there are all those debates about
buying ferrets out of a bad situation, and how you keep the same situation
from developing all over again....
 
I was moved tonight by Mo' Bob's eulogy for Buddy.  I guess it helps all of
us to be able to share our sad stories with others who care.  Thanks for
listening to mine.
 
-- Kim "Sigh...."
   Khaz "When I post stuff to the FML, I try to be upbeat, Mom!"
   Dori "Those are my brothers and sisters you're writing about. Waaaah."
[Posted in FML issue 1865]