I read [log in to unmask] post about Ferret Guardian Rescue Haven and wanted to address some of his/her points. First of all, I am sure that it is frustrating to want to adopt a ferret and have the plans for pickup fall through, especially more than once. I can sympathize with that. Diane, who runs the shelter, is extremely busy and often exhausted. She is having some health problems in her family as well as a full ferret shelter. She is not a collector. True, she does have a lot of ferrets, but she adopts them out quite regularly. I, personally, have adopted three ferrets from her over the last few months and had others offered to me by her, but I am at my personal limit. I am also aware of at least 6 other very recent placements, and those are just the ones I know about because they went to people on my area's local club's discussion list. Diane runs a good, responsible, selective ferret adoption program. She turns down adoption applications from people who don't seem like they would be able to properly care for ferrets but will work with those who just need more education. Collectors often get into a mindset where no one is good enough; Diane does not think that way and in fact sounds like she had approved Mysticalshadow. Diane often asks me to work with people who contact her about giving up ferrets. She would rather have young, healthy ferrets placed from their home directly to a new home rather than go through the shelter step. Often, we are able to work with people to place their ferrets before they land in the shelter. Not really the mark of a collector. Diane does wind up taking in large numbers of sick ferrets (adrenal, insulinoma, etc...). Here in NC, we have an epidemic of people dumping their ferrets, especially the sick ones. This tends to keep FGRH's numbers up, because Diane doesn't adopt out sickies (unless someone specifically wants and has the means to care of special needs ferrets, which is quite rare). She gets those ferrets surgeries as soon as funds allow and treats them medically in the meantime. She always seems to have ferrets recovering from surgery in the house and is constantly nursing a crew of sick, old, ferrets. FGRH ferrets do get enough attention, although it is exhausting work and Diane usually doesn't sleep many hours a night. She always has ferrets tucked in around her when she does catch a nap. FGRH was, in fact, closed to new admissions for a time several months back. She was at her absolute maximum, and she knew it. She did the right thing and closed her doors to incoming ferrets for a time, until she could get some adopted out. I only mention this because it's another point that speaks against "collector tendencies." Does Diane Campbell have a lot of ferrets in her shelter? Yes. Does her schedule make it difficult at times to arrange meetings with her? Yes. Could she use some help, mostly financial? Yes. Does she adopt out ferrets? Yes. Is she a collector? No. Best wishes, -Pam S. [Posted in FML issue 3768]