Two weeks ago FERRET BUSINESS of GA was contacted by the Morehouse School of Medicine - Center for Laboratory Animal Resources as a resource for rehoming 17 (originally 18, 1 has since died) ferrets. They were part of a breeding program, all bred at this facility & hand reared for temperament, from Triple F breeding stock. They were the stock that was to be used for a helicobactor pylori research study. This program has lost its funding from Wyeth & FBoG has been approved by the IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) to take possession of this business. After speaking w/the Morehouse contact person, who is also responsible for the ferrets' care, I collected the following info: - they are all UNNEUTERED - it is a mixed group of males & females (don't have the breakdown yet) - ages range between 3 & 5 1/2 years old - 10 are around 3 y/o & 8 are 5 - 5 1/2 y/o (before the loss of #18) - utd on distemper - all need rabies vacs in accordance w/GA Law - females are a little nippy, but very easy to handle - males are cuddle bugs (she's definitely partial to the males) - they have always lived in "very large cages" (that are not coming w/them) - their feet have never touched the floor - they were not research animals, this was strictly a breeding program to supply the research (the ferrets that were in the study have been euthanized, all were in excess of 7 years old) - health is good - no clinical signs of illness - there are no funds or resources available to neuter or vaccinate - we are to pick them up as soon as possible I had a nice discussion the researcher heading up the study, Gale W. Newman, Ph.D. (http://www.msm.edu/micro_immuno/newman.htm), Associate Professor, who studies the pathogenesis of infectious diseases, specifically: Mycobacterium avium in HIV positive patients, and Helicobactor pylori. She reiterated that these ferrets are all healthy, & have wonderful temperaments as a result of being hand-reared & handled on a daily basis. Additionally, because these ferret were to be used in the Helicobactor study, they have all been treated & certified as Helicobactor mustelae free. Dr. Newman welcomes being contacted by any of our veterinarians who would like the protocol that was very successfully used. After I was contacted, I called all over trying to find out if there are any guidelines for the final disposition of animals in a laboratory breeding program - GA Dept of Agriculture, USDA, Emory, UGA. Finally, GA Dept of Human Resources informed me that they can be released from the educational facility to FBoG, but FBoG is responsible for having them neutered & vaccinated BEFORE transferring them or placing them into an adoptive home. Even the attending veterinarian (from Emory) for the program said s.o.l.. I was hoping to find some way to have them neutered & vaccinated before FBoG took possession. Now I come to find that they can't even be adopted out, even w/the stipulation that they are neutered & vaccinated by their new family. Sadly, the only requirement for the final disposition of the animals in a breeding program like this, is that if they are euthanized, that it is done humanely in accordance with the Animal Welfare Act. An organization called Animal Welfare Institute (a watchdog group at http://www.awionline.org/aims.htm) informed me that most of the time they are euthanized & that we're lucky Morehouse is making the effort to find a place for them. I was pretty much told not to rock the boat, because Morehouse can still decide to destroy them if transferring them, or we, becomes an annoyance. So, it looks like we're going to have our most expensive tab yet having all of them neutered (I don't know the count of males & females) & vaccinated for rabies. Hopefully they've all had their distemper vacs recently. I know that compared to the enormous rescues many of you have done, that this is nothing. But it's the most we've taken in at one time, at a time when we're already at capacity. They will be picked up as early as Monday 8/2. Anyone have any ideas? Juliana Quadrozzi FERRET BUSINESS of GA www.ferretbusiness.petfinder.com [Posted in FML issue 4587]