I have a lot of respect for Troy Lynn, Dayna Frazier, and other people like
them.  They have defined their sheltering goals and taken responsibility
for those goals.  If the ferrets are in need, the people sometimes go
without.  I applaud them for handling such challenges in a mature and
responsible manner.
 
It's the shelter operators who whine to the FML about how they are going to
miss their next car payment because they are paying for yet another surgery
who irritate me.  Accepting the burden of sheltering ferrets means
accepting all the responsibilities that go along with it -- including the
ugly financial ones.  If you are endangering the well-being of your human
family for the sake of sheltering ferrets then you have a larger problem to
deal with.
 
I agree with the anonymous poster from California who mentioned social
workers who try to "rescue" their clients instead of helping them.
Excellent analogy.  Someone else mentioned people who collect ferrets and
then become so absorbed in their care that it becomes an excuse not to
live their lives.  Another accurate depiction of collectors.
 
It's difficult to separate the collectors and the emotionally needy
rescuers from those who maintain respectable shelters unless you actually
have some first-hand contact with them.  That's why I won't send a donation
check to a shelter I've never been to.  I have no problem buying products
they sell (some are quite nice) or buying products that support the S.O.S.
fund (another great idea) but I won't send direct financial aid.
 
I'm amazed at how relatively civil this discussion has remained compared
to some of the flaming I saw earlier in the year.  I am very interested in
listening to those with suggestions on how to help out the shelter system
in general.
 
-mel
[Posted in FML issue 2522]