Guess the anonymous poster that wrote about an excess of ferrets in this country was afraid of reprisals. There sure won't be any from shelters. We have all come to the same conclusion, sad as it is, there are too many ferrets. I tremble at the thought of a State as large as California legalizing them. Seems like so many people are fighting to make that come about but it will be a disaster for ferrets. There will be so many purchased on impulse and then dumped, just as they are every day at our doorstep. We used to just get the old and sick ones, those that were no longer wanted when they had medical bills and nursing needs. Now it is not unusual to get ferrets under a year of age, and I am no longer surprised by the occasional one purchased just a week ago; "Oh, I didn't realize they poop on the carpet!". There's an internet site called something like "13 reasons NOT to buy a ferret". If this were posted in a pet store, they would never sell another ferret. And yet, it is nothing more than realistic and something every ferret owner finds out in the first week of buying a ferret. It won't be long before ferret shelters are in the same boat as those for cats and dogs; overflowing with animals and unable to find even mediocre homes. My standards are high, and I can no longer find really good homes. I have to wait until a ferret dies at one the few good homes on my list and then quickly call to fill the "vacancy". I no longer take in healthy ferrets or I would have 100 by the end of the week. I only take sick ones and emergency placements ('take this ferret now or I'm turning it loose....'). For the others, I give owners detailed instructions on finding a home (advertising and careful screening of callers), and I do my own telephone screening (never as good as visiting, but then there are the 55 sick ones to care for at the shelter) and exchange numbers between people who wish to "dump" a ferret and people I hope will be good to an unwanted ferret. I don't think the anonymous poster had to be afraid of any disagreement; just look at all the posts on the Digest for ferrets needing homes. I don't see hardly any from someone looking to adopt, because, frankly, once the word gets out, you will have a dozen knocking at your door. There is one sure way to stem the tide and that is to close down Marshall Farms. Not only do they overproduce, but I will take full responsibility for my conviction that they are unbelievably cruel in their production and shipping methods and that in the breeding process, produce inherently defective animals that have less than a 50-50 chance of living beyond the age of 5 years. Ferret Rescue in Colorado Springs [Posted in FML issue 3436]