Kelly Your optimism is a great thing, hold onto it as long as you possibly can. I'm willing to bet most rescuers......like me (though I don't officially do ferret rescue, I'm involved in other rescue) started off feeling the VERY same way you do. The reality of the situation is we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg as far as ferret rescue. We could easily be headed toward the same situation with ferrets as we are with cats in this country. Do you know how many cats are put down in a day in this country. In the month of June alone 722 cats were surrendered at the Springfield, MA shelter, only 236 were adopted. What do you suppose happened to the other 400+? How are rescuers and shelter personnel supposed to stay optimistic with those numbers????? I had to LOL at your statement: >It doesn't make someone a bad person just because they want a nice house >to live in. Rescuers don't want everyone to live in dumps. If a house and a person's things are important to them that's fine but they shouldn't get a pet if they feel their possessions are more valuable than the animal they bring home. By the same thought if someone's living situation is known to be unstable they shouldn't get a pet. At the same time I do agree that if someone is trying to place their own pet and do it responsibly, it doesn't do any good to flame them. Their ALREADY taking on more responsibility than the many that just dump them at shelters. Behind EVERY human that gets flamed is a ferret (or other pet) in need and flaming is NOT going to help that pet. I abhor people giving up their pets but I have friends that have had to, good people that had their circumstances changed by fate. They looked responsibly for new homes for their pets, asked all of the right questions and cared enough to look in places where educated informed ferret people may be. You know poop happens, while I get very angry at those that clearly could've avoided their situation (ie learned what was REALLY involved in ferret) but we're all only human and we don't have 100% control. Sometimes even those of us that learn and plan get a loop tossed in our lives by someone else. [IA] [Posted in FML issue 3873]