Hi, everyone. I just wanted to pass along something that just happened. I live in Huntsville, Alabama. I just received a call from the Birmingham Zoo (Birmingham is about 1.5 hours south of Huntsville) asking if I had a ferret that I could donate to their education program. On the surface, it seems like a good idea; a Zoo educating the public about ferrets. However, a friend of mine who once worked for the Zoo told me that as far as she knew, the Zoo still had a policy of telling the public that ferrets are exotics and should not be owned as pets, even though a lot of people do own them as pets. I asked the woman if this was still their policy and she said yes, that exotics such as ferrets and tigers should not be owned as pets. I asked her if she was putting ferrets in the same group as tigers and she pointed out that ferrets are different from tigers (obviously), but are still exotic. When I asked her for the Zoo's definition of exotic, she told me that she was not looking for an argument (I could tell that she was in no way anticipating that I would be the one asking most of the questions) and that if I could not help her, then "thank you". For those operating shelters in the southeast, I want to make you aware that the Zoo may be calling you. This woman was very polite, but even if I were in the position to donate one or two ferrets, I would not donate to an organization who is telling people that ferrets should not be owned as pets. Unfortunately, I was not able to ask her many other questions since she cut the conversation short. -Mark Zmyewski Huntsville, Alabama [Posted in FML issue 4408]