I must admit I read with interest the posts that followed my small rant. I think in all fairness I should say that out of what was a horrible "people" experience came five blessings..... 3 little fuzzy faces... Barnum, Kami and YokoOHNO!! who joined my family and firmly have their little ferrety paws around my heart, and two amazingly wonderful "twolegger hooman" forever friends that mean the world to me. In the grand scheme of things, I believe that these five are the important "beings", and the rest of the crap will fade with time. Point is... and again I say... if I hadnt believed in helping ferrets, I would never ever have been willing to spend the time and effort, but unfortunately the human element was disgusting, self-serving and intolerable! Animals are honest with their emotions and perhaps I just should have fostered instead of becoming involved with the "workings" of the organization. I will be volunteering again no doubt, as I HAVE joined another non-profit ferret organization and hope to be able to contribute in as many ways as possible.. The sad thing for the moment is that I am so gunshy I cant throw myself into it wholeheartedly to begin with as I did before, being once bitten-twice shy baby...but perhaps that too will change in time. I'm willing to give it a chance. On a lighter note..... I'm fostering a new little one .... and ... being unclear on the concept of foster (why dont I JUST SAVE everyone the time and just sign the adoption papers when they come in my door???) I think the Collective is gonna have a new permanent member. This to me is what its about... making a difference in little ferret lives. At least I know in this small way I'm already contributing to the group I've just joined... the trust in Cliodhna's eyes tells me I'm doing it well :-) Val and the Ferret Collective Remember.. "Resistance is Futile" when it comes to ferrets :-) Barnum & Bailey, Kami, YokoOHNO!! and Cliodhna [Posted in FML issue 4212]