>From:    Kim Langford <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Mailing List  Marshall FarmsŁ
 
Hopefully it will be peaceful this time...
 
>First of all since I am new to the FML I'm a bit confused about the talk
>about Marshall Farms.  If someone could fill me in it would be appreciated
>because I have a Marshall Farms ferret.
 
The first point that you need to know is it doesn't really matter where
your ferret came from now that you have him or her.  Love your ferret!
 
Marshall Farms is the largest ferret ranch in the United states and
probably the world.  They provide the largest number of ferrets to pet
stores that we are aware of.  It is family owned.
 
Because they are a business and trying to support the Marshall family they
choose to do things that others of us that only see ferrets as pets find
distasteful (or worse).  There are stories of atrocities involving too
young kits being sent out but most in our honest opinion seem to involve
folks that aren't familiar with young ferrets so they inadvertantly assume
the kits are younger than they are.  Most of us agree though that in an
ideal world the kits would go out at an older age.
 
There is evidence that when viable alternatives to the distasteful (they
are not illegal and moral aspects depend upon your personal moral code)
practices are presented, Marshall Farms does try to respond and improve
the lot of the ferrets in question. But they do not respond well at all to
perceived threats in our view.
 
The ferrets that come from Marshall are almost always seen as extremely
docile and well mannered (for ferrets).  Some reports of "bad" ferrets
do arise but sometimes it is plausible that those ferrets might not
actually come from Marshall.
 
ECE (a digestive tract viral disease) does seem to be in the ferret
"distribution" system but there are still conflicting reports as to
whether it is actually present at Marshall Farms itself.
 
There are those that assert that Marshall breeds genetically defective
and cancerous ferrets.  We find that highly unlikely.  There may be a
genetic component to some of the problems but there is more evidence for
environmental components which make genetic weeding out without cost
prohibitive genetic analysis impracticle.  This will hopefully be
changing as science improves.
 
Some oppose the early altering of ferrets destined for pet stores but
others of us recognize that more lives are spared the slow painful death
from aplastic anemia and new ferret owners are spared some problems from
whole ferrets which in turn reduces ferret abandonment.
 
Marshall Farms does supply ferrets for animal research.  This is  not a
simple issue either.  There is at this point still a place for animal
research in properly performed experiments that do not involve cruelty.
Hopefully that can change over time.
 
Although we would prefer a world where pet stores are really just pet
supply stores and all ferrets (and dogs and cats) came from private
breeders we recognize the realities of the world and will try to coexist
with Marshall and other ranches.  These ranches are not ferret mills in
the sense of bad puppy mills though some assert that they are.  If we use
a more positive approach with them I feel we will acheive better results
than if we just use negative approaches.  Fix rather than destroy.
 
There are no real answers as to any of these issues so this is just my
opinion.  Please have your own opinions rather than just borrow someone
elses.
 
-bill
--
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
mailto:[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 2714]