Hi Everybody, I'm a couple of days behind on reading all of the posts, and I just got caught up. I am now wondering why it is that when someone such as Molly posts that she has to give up an animal that others will immediately jump to assumptions and decide that she is an irresponsible person, her children are brats, when we know nothing of her, her children, or her situation? This is just plain wrong! This list is here for us to get together and help one another, not judge each other. I know a few people who are no longer on this list because of the flaming and the bashing. But, if you stop and think about it, why would any of us want to be a part of it if it made us act this way.... condecending... rude... sarcastic.... Of course we are not all ever going to see eye to eye on everything, and there is nothing wrong with that, but jeez, try and get someone's side of the story before juding,labeling, and slamming them. I mean, as it turns out, Molly joined this list so that she could learn about ferrets and decide whether a fuzzy would be the pet for her family or not, before going out and purchasing one. This is a good thing! My husband and I had considered getting a skunk, and I joined the skunk mailing list so that I could learn about them and decide whether a skunk would work out in our household, and, as it turned out, a skunk wouldn't be a good idea for us right now. This, I think, was a much better way of discovering that it wouldn't work out, as opposed to going and purchasing one, only to learn what a bad idea it was. This seems to be the more responsible route to go, don't you think? Ahhhh, but what about the parrot, you ask? She has had the parrot for years, and has tried like hell to keep it, so now she is sending it to a good home, one that she knows will take care of it. That doesn't make her an irresponsiblebad person,doesn't that make her someone who cares?! Anyway, my point is that she came to this list for guideance and assistance, as have many of us. (I know I did!) So, why don't we help her out, share our knowledge, and spread some good ju-ju !!!!! :-) Yvonne and the four merry monsters Hannibal Tazzicle U.V. and Socks [Posted in FML issue 3704]