Hi Danielle, I've missed much of the debate about MF, PETA and the ALF but have been around long enough to know what it's about and that it's always the same. I just wanted you to know from me why I, as a ferret person, dislike the PETA organization in regards to ferrets. Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA I believe, wrote a column about two years ago for JANE magazine. This is a nationally distributed magazine. She was doing a Question/Answer page on pets. A girl wrote in asking if ferrets were good pets. I will never forget her responses. While I can't quote them 100%, I can tell you what she said. Ferrets make lousy pets because: - they will crawl into the walls where you can't get at them and cause damage and escape. - they are a RABIES risk and not to be trusted around young children, and that if one should ever bite you, you better run to the nearest ER for a series of rabies shots. - they're exotic animals and not meant to be pets. JANE magazine neither fact checked this, and when I posted the exact quote to the FML, a ton of people wrote into the magazine. Instead of doing the RIGHT thing and printing some sort of correction in the magazine at a later date, the magazine called us "ferret freaks" and dismissed it at that. Ingrid Newkirk did uncalculated damage with that response. For such a powerful woman, she is probably the most ignorant woman I've ever come across. Now, if the founder of PETA can't be bothered to check facts and make a rational statement in a national magazine, why would I trust anyone below her? And, yes, I also held JANE responsible. Their dismissal of us as freaks did as much damage as Ingrid's ignorant comments. I canceled my subscription immediately. So, for some of us, there are rational, factual reasons we don't trust these organizations. Julie [Posted in FML issue 3658]