It was not that many months ago that a few people-including a ferret
shelter- were claiming that ferrets should be given to anyone--rich or
poor, and some said-regardless of any other factors.
 
I thank God to learn that there are some responsible shelters out there.
I was truly surprized at the writings from shelters today on the FML.  I
thought you all felt the same way others did that wrote a few months back.
I was saddened and honestly stunned at the writings back then.
 
Having worked with impoverished people for over 10 years-and having been
impoverished and heavy in debt for years myself-I don't have any way to
discribe how I felt when someone wrote that Everyone had a car.  [I could
not afford a junker and insurance until I was 26 years old.]  It is so far
from the truth.
 
Someone else with 2 cars, two incomes and a home and furniture wrote that
they were poor because they had to have a budget.  It was suddenly popular
to be poor.
 
I wish that these comments I read today were written those 6 or 7 months
ago.  I have had 5 or 6 truly poor people write.  They beleived they could
afford more ferrets, in part ,because some people on this list insisted
poor people could properly care for a ferret.
 
They could not.  They wrote to let me know of their distress.  Being poor
does not make a person stop caring about his or her ferrets.  It does not
stop the pain of watching your beloved ferret die while unable to afford a
vet.  None had cars.  Most lived in a small trailer.  All were concerned
single moms with kids.
 
Not a one of them would have brought the ferret or ferrets home if they had
known of the expenses involved .  I was just as ignorant.  Wolf , after his
surgery tomorrow, will have cost me over $2,400.  in a year and a half.  I
have two more ferrets losing fur on their tail and it looks like adrenal.
I cannot afford to do the surgery now.  But I did not know of these
expenses.  $400 each in a lifetime for a possible surgery I thought.  What
a joke.
 
Thank you ferret shelters for stating NOW what you feel is obvious.
 
Lisette
[Posted in FML issue 2853]