>I lived in Ontario, and met up with a young lady whom has taken it upon
>her self to look after unwanted ferrets, and find home's for them.  At that
>time she was doing this by herslef, with her own money & money from
>adoption fee's.  Should'nt we be trying to find home home's for them,
>before purchasing ferrets from stores etc?
 
(BIG I know I know...July 6th....it apparently seems to be a very special
date for my server, and nothing I do will change it's mind....)
 
    I agree that it's important to adopt from shelters (I think it's
especially important because I run one) but I also think that nobody should
be chewed out for buying from the pet stores.  When ferrets come into the
shelter, they are given good food, lots of attention, treats and lots of
playtime.  Sometimes they remain in the shelter a little too long for my
liking, but at least they are getting the love they need.
 
    In the pet store, on the other hand, they sit in little teeny shaving
filled cages with no attention and questionable food.  I see no harm in
taking a baby ferret away from that environment.  I know I know...if we keep
buying from pet stores they in turn will continue to bring in ferrets and
keep them in teeny weeny shaving filled..etc etc.  But whether the stores
sell the ferrets or not doesn't deter them anyway.  The large chain pet
stores here had baby ferret arrive at six weeks and stay until they were as
much as five months old, cut the price in half etc etc...and one day I went
in and there were 3 little teeny babies in one cage, big monsterous older
ferrets in another.  They will keep bringing in ferrets until they think
what I've heard them refer to as the "Ferret Craze" is over.
 
    My point is this...I like to see those babies get out of the pet store
before they suffer respiratory problems, before they are so unmanageable
that they are frightening pets, before the pet store decides they've been
there too long and has them euthanized...  Our shelter here is important to
the ferret community and I try to encourage people to adopt from us (3 of my
own ferrets are shelter rescues, one is an SPCA rescue and 2 are pet store
ferrets) but if they tell me they've bought from a pet store I certainly
don't chew them out.  You can't help what ferret you fall in love with...I
recently bought a kit from a pet store because I couldn't help it.  And Milo
is worth every penny.
 
    Support the ferret shelters in your area, yes absolutely, but don't beat
yourself over the head because you have pet store ferrets too.  It's more
important to try and educate the pet stores, to convince them to give out
the numbers of shelters and clubs to help people learn about their new pets
and to teach the pet stores more about ferrets than the few basics they
know.  We always find wonderful homes for our shelter ferrets eventually and
I think that pet store ferrets deserve the same chances from the ferret
community.
 
Sheena, BooBoo, Joop, Ashley, Fang, Milo and the amazing Razzle Dazzle who
just arrived
Ferrets & Friends Club & Rescue E-Mail:  [log in to unmask]
"dedicated to the preservation of the domestic ferret as a
 household pet", a no-kill, not-for-profit ferret facility.
[Posted in FML issue 1314]