>There are a few of us that are confused concerning writings on the FML.. >Over the last few years, it has been written on the FML that the research >done by Marshall Farms has given us so much info on ferrets? We cannot >find any indication on the web that the puppy mill does ANY research. You know perfectly well that Marshall Farms does not do research - you also know that MF does breed ferrets for lab research. You know also that the research conducted on the ferrets bred by MF has benefited the ferret community with vaccines and medicines. No one has ever suggested anything differently. And despite knowing that truth, you or your group suggest that they have. >There is plenty of documentation of the terrible conditions there. We >realize from reading the various USDA citations ,and from the News Reports >documented that hundreds of thousands of ferrets have been kept isolated >in small cages or jammed so that ferrets seem to swim over one another in >cages that they cannot walk in because of the wiring, the rusted sharp >metal poking out into the cages, and that the ferrets forced to breed over >and over again have lives and deaths we could not want to imagine. We >know lots of horrible stuff. But you always fail to report that the seven violations cited over and over result from the August 1993 USDA inspection. You also fail to report that in the February 1994 inspection the USDA found all violations corrected and noted that fact in their 1994 report. In other words, only half of the facts have been presented - only those facts unfavorable to Marshall Farms. The fact that they corrected those violations has been strangely ignored. Presenting only part of the truth still amounts to a lie. Citing old violations as current violations is not exactly the truth, either. Presenting the same citations from multiple sources do not amount to "plenty of documentation." It only amounts to repeating the same incident over and over. The practice amounts to a deliberate campaign of misinformation designed to present Marshall Farms in a negative light. Who is the unnamed "we" who know lots of horrible stuff? What purpose do "they" have to provide the public with inaccurate information? Why are "they" unnamed? >I think it is important that we fully understand what this puppy mill does >if we are going to write to Congress and not look silly or frivolous. How does anyone look responsible and serious by knowingly presenting false and misleading information to anyone, let alone Congress? All veracity is lost when anyone knowingly misrepresents facts, presents outdated information, omits crucial information, and distorts the truth to further an agenda. It is impossible not to look silly and frivolous when presenting out-dated information and deliberately hiding half of the facts. There is no nobility in any cause or campaign that engages in a deliberate pattern of deceit and misinformation. No one writing to the FML has ever suggested that MF, like any business, has not had problems. They have had problems. They have also worked to correct the problems. No one writing to the FML has ever suggested that there are not practices at MF that could not be improved. But, creating an atmosphere of hostility and animosity is not the way to get MF to willingly listen to the ferret community's suggestions. In the long run, those who have deliberately engaged in the campaign of distortions, half-truths, and outright lies against Marshall Farms are doing more harm than good. It is long past time for that to change. [Posted in FML issue 3178]