Hi Everyone, I have some rather harsh comments to make on the so called articles being cited in the Marshall Farms discussion. Please realize that these are NOT news reporting. These are simply press releases from organizations that have a long history of strong bias. I have worked both as a reporter and as a public relations liaison. I am closely acquainted with the use of press releases to help a cause. Look closely at the "articles" and you can judge them for yourselves. They DO NOT quote first hand sources. In fact, they only quote animal rights activists, they never even give the original source for the statements. These "articles" do not say where any of the people being quoted got their information from. Hell, they are just quoting vague information from OTHER press releases, not even any news source. It disturbs me greatly to see something like "so and so was going to change their minds on the issue." They aren't even quoting the people who were doing it, they are quoting someone else's assumptions about what others were THINKING. Tubes down ferrets throats to the stomach??? Feeding tubes. Holes cut in ferrets throats?? Tracheotomy or something else. Vet students practicing on ferrets for surgical procedures? Yep, they do it all over the United States. How do you think fledging vets get their practice? They use live animals. The practice includes how to correctly introduce tubes into the stomach etc so that the animal doesn't accidentally die due to the tubes going into the wrong places. They practice shots, which include sub-q (under the skin) and vein puncture. There is, ultimately, NO substitute for these types of practice, including all out surgical procedures. I have been told, by vets, that the feel of using a live animal is just not the same as anything CURRENTLY AVAILABLE as a substitute. These practice runs are also done in the same manner as they would be done by any vet. They are done as humanely as possible. Doctors have the ability to use human corpses for similar practice. Do I like it? Not at all. But when I have a sick animal that needs these types of treatments, I am grateful that it is available. I have read articles from LIFE and Peta many years ago. As someone who has trained and practiced journalism, I was upset over the EXTREME bias of their so called "reporting." I have not, until tonight, read ether's articles for years. I have found them to be useless for any type of correct information, and as for the article on Marshall Farms on the Acme Ferret site, I still find them useless. We need to fight for changes, I have no doubt. I would like to see some changes in how Marshall Farms operate. But I have not, ever, seen any evidence to make me think that they operate in as bad a manner as is portrayed by the above article. We need to fight using correct, verifiable information. Not just quotes from unnamed sources, or quotes from press releases. Please be very careful when you read things like these and take a critical look at how something is written. No one, in their right mind, would respond to questioning from "reporters" such as these, because they have shown how strong a bias they have. To me, that proves that they would not be above quoting out of context etc., to put their own slant on ANY quotes. Maggie [Posted in FML issue 3181]