Hi All. I was wondering on a couple things. 1. Does anyone know if there are any shelters/clubs/etc in Minnesota? I'm not entirely sure that ferrets are legal here but I know more and more people that I see in the petstores have them. 2. I'm looking for a baby female cinnamon. I know that's selfish of me. But I had found a couple and for SOME reason, unknown to me, the very best one, the one i most recently was trying to get, stopped talking to me. My mother really wants a baby, and a girl, and a cinnamon. We have 5 ferrets now, 3 of which are getting up there in age, 2 are just babies still (1yr old or less). We have 3 boys and two girls, want to even it out a little, and she really wants a red one. So there you have it. If anyone has any, adoption, shelter, for sale from breeder, etc. PLEASE let me know. I've been trying for a long time now and for some reason all the ones I find, stop talking to me. 3. This New York issue, sickens me. Perhaps this Rudy guy has never seen a ferret playing, or sleeping, or licking you. All of which are the many joys us ferret owners enjoy. It's so cute. Even people we know that don't have ferrets, they come over and watch them and think it's so very adorable. These are people that originally didn't like ferrets for the original myths "They stink, they bite, they are wild and untrainable". Thankfully the people here that buy ferrets, are taking care of them. I hope anyways. I rarely see any in the petstores for very long, and I"ve been recently going to the humane society and looking through the papers. I haven't been able to find any in the humane, and in the papers the people all have large cages and toys and food and are generally reluctant to give them up. As for vets, I doubt there are any here that are Ferret Specific, but my vet has tried her best to gather all the information she can on them. We were the first of her clients to bring in a ferret, and with an unknown problem. We also had problems drawing blood because the oldest two were so sick and weak that they were almost dead. We thought for sure we would lose them. We never even thought of clipping a toenail. We just tried and tried in the leg, then the tail, then the neck. Our last option was to go through the chest. We didn't do it. We just used was tiny bit we got and some fecal samples. But she has since gotten many more ferret clients and has gotten a lot more knowledge on them. She also works closely with the UNiversity of Minnesota here with the various animal places. 4. As for animal rights people, they hang off my building all the time. I am all for their protecting animal rights, but I wish they would actually think about what they are doing when they let animals go free. I mean, is it so terrible to use rats (that's all we have in this area, that they bother us for) to use to help fight cancer, rather than set them free so they can quickly be killed or die of starvation? I don't think there should be needless testing and cruelty to animals, but I have YET to ever see anyone within the animal labs here be cruel to these animals. And the work they are doing is worth it, in my opinion, because I will probably need it some day. I understand that all animals have their personality and should have certain rights, but I don't think that domesticated animals should be set free just because they are caged (we have some people here that do that too). But there are some animal rights groups that aren't so violent and aren't jeopardizing the animals lives to make their point. Those are the ones I respect. Well, off my soap box. Reason why I got ferrets? They are just soooo darned cute!! Cute little button nose and beedy eyes and little ears. And they look at you even when they are sleeping once they hear their name. They always come running when they see you, unlike some children and family members. ;) (none of which I have thankfully, for now) I sure miss my fuzzybutts. I have to leave them with my mom when I moved out. I miss them a lot because I am the only one that plays with them on a regular basis and they just love to clamber all over me and stick their noses in my ear and make it tickle. I will be so very sad when the oldest pass on. Erin Larson Sr. Office Assistant Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development 4-122 Moos Tower 612-625-1193 6-160 Jackson Hall 612-624-3110 321 Church Street SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 [log in to unmask] Fax: 612-626-7031 "Due to a shortage of devoted followers, the production of great leaders has been discontinued." [Posted in FML issue 2925]