I rescue ferrets in the Albany area of New York and I don't know how it works in the rest of the country, but the majority of my rescues are parents giving up their children's ferrets due to LACK OF CARE. There was one instance where the girl didn't even realize her ferrets were gone until she was put under house arrest a month later!!!!!! I can't tell you how many of the poor things I had to help over the bridge because of uninformed parents and irresponsible children. There was another instance where the girl left them without food for DAYS and refused to clean their cage and the mother had MS and couldn't take care of them, so she gave them to me. There are two sides to every story and if the parent (who actually lives with and knows this child) felt that the animals needed to go who are we to judge? Rescuers Keep Up The Good Work, Lisa and the now Diabolical Dozen + 3 [Posted in FML issue 4212]