I've been watching the PETA debate/PETA bashing over the past few days. I absolutely agree that fanatacism in ANY form is wrong (anyone up for political debate while we're at it?), and certainly PETA is fanatical in their desperation to end animal abuse and cruelty. In principle, obviously, we agree with that particular aspect, but are simply disinclined to support extremeism or untruths being used in a just campaign (because when lies are used, they can be turned around and discredit the entire movement). But no to the reason for my Email ... >I actively oppose PETA, not because they are against ferrets, or >dislike the concept of domesticated animals ... Up until several months ago, I ran a rescue down in the metropolitan Phoenix area. We specialized in Ferrets, Rats, Mice, Guinea Pigs ... and the occasional rabbit, small iguana or bird. We had a woman call from out-of-state (WAAAAY out of state, East coast) who was interested in adopting a guinea pig when she came out to visit her mother. She had looked at our website, thoroughly discussed the adoption with her family, even preliminarily chosen who she wanted to adopt as a companion to their present guinea pig. When she contacted me, I told her we'd have to discuss it, and that these determinations of suitability were made on a case-by-case basis (hmm, kind of addresses part of the age of adopter discussion!), but that I generally did NOT adopt to out-of-state folks. Reasons? Here's a couple: (1)Animals are already stressed by going to a new environment, and don't need long trips added to that stress (2) No way to do home visits before or after adoption ... we had a manditory "trial period" of a year during which we could call, or come by, to see how an adoptee was getting along. I only did this in one case, and was glad I did ... the gal had divorced and her new fella was a real ... well, we got Freddy back. So the PETA woman showed up and brought her mother (who was ALSO a PETA person ... oh lordy, a revolution about to ensue!). They looked at the guinea pigs, looked at the birds, the rats, the mice, the bunnies and the guinea pigs. THEN they saw the ferrets we had (only wo at the time). They nudged each other and froze. I froze. Then they started grinning madly and asked if they could hold one, never having had that opportunity before. Ten minutes later they wanted both a ferret AND a guinea pig. I disapproved the ferret adoption, because they could only take one and had no other ferrets or ferret experience, and were'nt going to be around long enough to do the month of weekends helping out in the ferret-room to learn about them. The daughter finally sighed, and went to get her guinea pig, which "Mom-Peta" had by now fallen for, and insisted on taking herself! After watching for a while, I suggested that mom (local) get the pig, despite it being an "impulse adoption" and daughter getting one back in her hometown. Yes, mom had guineas, too. Now then ... after having written all this and probably gone into way more detail than needed (well, except I did also touch on some adoption criteria stuff) ... PETA people are, generally very passionate about their crusade, but not ALL of them are fanatics. Both the mom & daughter thought SOME of the protests were way overdone, and would not participate in them (made my husband happy ... he met them and had a nightmare image of the mom naked in front of a furriers ... uwwwwwww!). These two were PETA, but NOT fanatics. And they loved the ferrets and wanted to adopt, AND planned to adopt in the future when they'd learned more about care requirements. We can't lump everyone together in an organization, even if the orgaization has an "official stance" about something. I don't agree with everything done in this country, or by this country, but I'm still an American. BTW ... the guinea pig has an AMAZINGLY great home, with several cages (in different rooms) and a free-range area in her room! Peri [Posted in FML issue 4074]