Howdy all. There seems to be two conflicting lines of thought on showing ferrets which have congenital or genetic "defects" (I really dislike that term, but my brain has not come up with a better alternative). One line thinks that people should be allowed to show their beautiful blaze or panda ferrets and no one should disqualify their ferret just because some breeder -- and the show sponsors, for that matter -- decided the pattern was nice. The problem with this line of thinking is that if there are rings for blazes or pandas, etc. (I'm just using these patterns because of the high likelihood of WS -- not to say that other patterns cannot have genetic defects), the non-ferret-knowledgeable public -- even current ferret owners not quite up to speed -- will see them and consider them a desireable type of ferret to have (gotta admit, they do have very remarkable patterns). Demand goes up, breeders produce more. Problem continues. The other line of thought is that any ferret displaying any type of malformation should be immediately disqualified from showing. While this would definitely get the message across to breeders, etc., much of the ferret community has the potential to feel alienated (e.g., someone who has one or two ferrets of a WS pattern -- that's it). What if there were a middle of the road solution (G*d, I have no idea how this one is going to go over with the FML, but here goes...)? What if shows gave people the opportunity to show ferrets with genetic problems IF AND ONLY IF they were altered? In that way, the show sponsors could allow people to show their ferrets without the fear that they will be used to perpetuate the genetic flaws. Also, only allowing altered ferrets would certainly generate some discussion among those showing their ferrets about why that rule is in place, permitting a chance to educate those in the ferret community (and outside the ferrets community) about patterns/breeding/genetics... I would love to show my big old guy, Tripod Bob (he has only three feet and a stubby tail), but I don't think anyone would take him into their ring. Love him to death anyway. . . -- Andy and the 5 sock pirates [Posted in FML issue 3219]