At the risk of angering anyone on either side of this debate, I want to put my two cents in. First, I loathe the things these babies go through, both the ones sold to labs, and the ones sold to pet stores. This goes for all mill breeders, not just MF. However, there are a few things which are often overlooked when our extreme emotions on the matter are so riled up. The first is that (and I don't know which labs MF sells to specifically, but we can make some assumptions) at least some ferrets being sold to labs really is neccessary. Were it not for some fuzzies lives being sacrificed, mine would not have vaccines or other medications. Would we know it was OK to give our babies Amoxidrops or Baytril when they are recovering from surgery, etc. As much as I hate the thought of ferret 24601, I must put aside those feelings knowing that my fuzzies' lives are made better for it. Of course, in the cases where the labs are testing cosmetics or cleaners, or other things of that type, I, like any caring person in the world, am opposed. I personally would be interested in actual sales reports suggesting the percentage of legitimate research labs verses cosmetics, etc. BEFORE making any accusations. The only way to boycott ALL testing on these animals is to stop owning ferrets at all, or to stop treating your ferrets when they are ill. Owning and treating a ferret automatically supports the legitimate medical testing being performed. The second thing many of us may overlook is that despite where these babies come from, when it comes down to it, they are all equally deserving of a good home. By boycotting MF by not buying their ferrets, we would sentence those babies to labs or to "ferret ignorant" owners. Many of them would end up in shelters, or worse. To think that we can put MF out of business by not buying their ferrets at pet stores is just plain silly. I know people who will not even buy MF ferrets from shelters, they are so opposed. My point is not to insult those people who fell so strongly, but mearly to point out that while they engage in their politics, there are lovely, loving, babies sitting lonely in pet stores, or worse, lonely in their cages in a home where their owner was unprepared for the responsibility, or a lab cage, etc. Breeder aside, all ferrets deserve our love and attention. I am PROUD to say that weeks after my last post on this same subject, in which I firmly stated that I would not buy another ferret from a pet store, would instead buy only shelter ferrets, etc., I became the companion of a darling MF kit straight from Petco. After observig the conditions this sweet baby was in, and had been for a week or more, I could not let it continue. My money went to MF, but my love and joy went to this very deserving baby. Am I a monster for in effect supporting Marshall Farms, or am I human, humane, and (like most of us) a sucker for a pretty face? Like I said, just my two cents. (or perhaps three or four, OK OK, it was probably more like a dime....) Melissa, the loving friend of Mira, Cael, and now Tasha, and as always, remembering my dear Booboo. [Posted in FML issue 2961]