Sam <[log in to unmask]> writes
>I do not know of a *single* shelter in an area with high turn-ins who also
>breeds.
 
I volunteered at a local shelter for nearly four years with a very high
turn in rate and count where the shelter operator bred ferrets (and still
does).  The shelter was so overcrowded that ferrets only got out on average
once a week, and then typically only into another cage while their cage was
cleaned.  The breeders were lumped in with the shelter ferrets, and kits
were adopted out as shelter ferrets and included in all shelter counts (as
were the breeders and pets).  If unaltered interesting colored ferrets came
into the shelter, they were sometimes bred as well (with no information on
the ferrets' backgrounds).
 
This is not second hand information: I was there for nearly four years,
every weekend and then some, trying to make a difference.  I finally gave
up in frustration when the operator kept importing more ferrets to breed,
and then starting buying angora kits from back east to sell.
 
Oddly enough, this same shelter operator now gives talks on "responsible
shelters and breeding".
 
Leonard Bottleman               [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 3213]