The following article was posted this evening on KMBC news in Kansas
City.

http://www.kmbc.com/news/26435615/detail.html

This facts behind this story are heart wrenching and not portrayed
in any manner by the article. As it will take me sometime to get the
entire story typed, I will give a short version on this posting. The
ferret in this article was obtained by the family last week. I received
a call from the landlord on Thursday Jan 6, 2010 telling me that their
tenants had recently gotten a ferret and could not keep as it was
"biting" their baby, but was otherwise friendly. Having been involved
with ferret rescue for nearly 20 years, I immediately agreed to take
the ferret. In the days to follow, I tried several times to make
arrangement to get the ferret. However the owners would not surrender
him. I only spoke with the landlord, John. Over the course of several
conversations the story seemed to change as to what the owners were
doing and the reasons for giving the ferret up. I thought I was being
persistent, obviously not persistent ant enough. I sent over articles
with information on ferrets and how to care for them and the facts
about having ferrets and small children. At one point over the weekend
it was mentioned that the parents of the baby might take the ferret to
the vet to see if they could have it's teeth removed, so it would not
hurt the baby when it bit. Of course I was horrified and continued to
press the urgency of the situation. I was led to believe that all was
under control, though I was certain that it was not. Today, I woke up
to find that the ferret has been killed and the youngest child has
been seriously injured.

What happened is senseless and criminal. These parents had full
knowledge of what they were doing when they continued to place the
ferret and child in danger. From what I know, the owners assured the
landlord that it would be separated from all children until they
decided what they wanted to do. However, they did not do this. It
is not possible that this ferret was separated and secured from the
children and the parents were attentive to their child's cry. This did
not take place in a large house, maybe 1200 square feet. The parents
are also claiming the baby was with them when this happened.

What happened is devasting. Two innocent lives were destroyed today,
by the acts of people who ignored the risks at hand after being made
aware. I pleaded to have the ferret surrendered to me. However, safety
was very clearly not the priority here.

When I learned of the situation, I immediately contacted GV police and
gave what information I had.

I will have more to come soon....

Sadly,
Angela

[Posted in FML 6939]