Back in December, I posted here on the FML a story about a beautiful, gentle and young female ferret found in someone's backyard here in Sacramento. This ferret was wearing a collar with a bell on it. She was immediately nicknamed, Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell had obviously been well loved and cared for. Even her toenails were properly clipped. She was picked up on Nov 17th by our club president. The rest of the story was very sad and messy. Most of club members know nothing about it. I chose not to tell it, because there seemed no point. Last night something happened to make me change my mind. Last night my little Angel somehow got out of my house. I didn't realize she was gone until midnight. I walked my street from midnight to 1:30AM looking for her. I cried and I prayed to find her. I kept thinking, "This is California. No one here knows I have ferrets. If I put up fliers or knock on doors, someone might turn me in, then I would lose all my little ones." I was becoming resigned to just letting her go, when I suddenly saw some movement in my neighbor's yard. It was my Angel. The brat was wet and happy. She'd been having the time of her life. It was then that I realized I should tell the whole story about Tinkerbell to, hopefully, facilitate her return to her family. They obviously loved her dearly and were excellent ferret parents. They deserve to get her back. So, here's the rest of the story. Tinkerbell had been found in the backyard of a house-bound woman with 3 cats. Tinkerbell was sleeping with these cats and eating their food. She was probably no more than 2-3 houses down from where her family lives. Finding them would have required someone putting up fliers and knocking on doors. Within 24 hours of picking up Tinkerbell, our club president had promised her to a friend who is an avid collector of young and beautiful ferrets. She waited 2 weeks, then tried to hand Tinkerbell over to this friend. The one club member who knew about the situation at that time protested, because she knew nothing had been done to find Tinkerbell's family. She volunteered to do the legwork to find these people. She just needed to know exactly where the ferret had been found, so she could put on her "ferret legalization" T shirt and start knocking on doors in the neighborhood. Our club president refused the club member's request. She told her that the ferret had been promised to her friend and she wasn't going to disappoint her friend. The club member was then frozen out of the club, but not before she repeated the story to a couple of people in the club. One of our shelter moms approached our president to also request that this club member be allowed to find Tinkerbell's family. The shelter mom was told that there was a new 2-week policy on foundling ferrets. If the owner hadn't approached the club within 2 weeks, then the ferret would be adopted out. Even if the people who lost the ferret were later found, she wouldn't be returned to them, because the ferret had been promised to her friend. (It's a shame that this friend isn't willing to adopt one of the many club surrenders that have been waiting months in our shelter for a good home.) Anyway, this shelter mom was also frozen out of the club for her trouble. As I mentioned before, I don't want the rest of our club to know the truth. They would all drop out. I posted the abbreviated story back in December, because I hoped it would push our president and her friend into listening to their consciences and allowing this ferret's family to be found. It didn't work. Our club is supposed to be about ferret rescue, not ferret collecting. I believe that ferret rescue includes returning lost ferrets to their families. Tinkerbell's family is there in the neighborhood where she was lost. She didn't travel far. She stopped at the first bowl of cat food she found and she stayed there for 3 days before our club picked her up. Her family has the right to get her back. Does anyone have any suggestions? [Posted in FML issue 3678]