I meant to send this yesterday, but goofed and sent it twice to another mailing list. On Wednesday, the State of Illinois FINALLY closed down Rick Robbins pet farm. All of his numerous animals were confiscated by the local Humane Society, and they gave us the ferrets. We went out to his farm, and the conditions were absolutely disgusting! The ferrets, along with some free range chickens and some caged dogs, were out in a shed in the back, in wire cages, most with no food or water. The weather here has been in the 80's and 90's. Inside his house it was worse, the stench was incredible. There were cages upon cages of hamsters, guinea pigs, sugar gliders, miniature possums, and hedgehogs. There were three dogs in a bedroom upstairs, another dog and her puppies in the bathroom, another very friendly bulldog wandering around the house. There were several cages of cats, and many cats wandering outside. He even had a fawn! None of these ferrets have been fixed or vaccinated, and most of the girls are absolutely paranoid about people (not that we blame them!). We cannot transfer them to another shelter, that was one of the conditions of their release to us, but we have the space and the time. The only thing we may be lacking is the money to get all 18 (plus more to come!) of these babies fixed and vaccinated. If you want to make donations to our vet, here is his name and address (please make checks payable to Mackenzie Pointe ANimal Hospital and indicate that they are for the FURRY account). Mark Lux, DVM Mackenzie Pointe Animal Hospital 7227 Watson Road St. Louis, MO 63119 314-353-0808 Or you can send checks payable to Imperial Animal Hospital (They're not set up to handle an account for us) directly to us at: FURRY PMB #303 7301 Watson Road St. Louis, MO 63119 Any advice about special care during and after pregnancy would be much appreciated! Kurt & Sara Petersen FURRY (Ferrets Underfoot RUnning Round You) http://www.furryferrets.org Help raise money for the shelter! Click on http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=5129 [Posted in FML issue 3099]