Someone wrote to me about a site with two ferret shelters nearby and two PETsMART stores. I replied: >A few days ago there was a phone number given for shelters to REGISTER >with PETsMART and then PETsMART says that it stops selling the animals >and instead has a once a month adoption day which the shelters >participate in. > >Have they contacted that office at PETsMART? It's the only way they >would know. > >This sounds like an EXCELLENT test area to see if that PETsMART promise >is a real one or not: to get the shelters on that PETsMARET list and >then see if they stop selling ferrets there as a response. *****COULD THE PERSON WHO POSTED THAT NUMBER WHICH SHELTERS NEED TO CALL AT PETSMART, PLEASE, REPOST IT?***** There is nothing quite like seeing if a promise holds up on testing, is there? It IS the only way to know. Like I said: >Now, I am kind of inclined to believe promises when I see them pan out >(having been burned before) but if they really do this and shelters take >advantage of the adoption connections this could wind up working out >better than what is usually seen as long as the volumes of ferrets sold >is not large and as long as buyers are first helped to understand the >needs of ferrets and encouraged not to buy when the people can't meet >those needs (which also means training employees well). If the words >are only words then that is a different matter, of course. --- Does anyone in Europe have a copy of the upcoming (in January) size measurements and particulars for the EU ferret farm standards? I have been forwarded some, but not a document to verify them. The ones I was sent have most being smaller than 2 feet square for a cage which has TWO nest boxes. With two nest boxes in the regs that leaves the impression that these may be communal cages, so I'd also like to see if these are communal cages. Anyone have a website? Notice that if you compare the photos PETA (which I take with a boulder of salt) showed of cages in MF (See past FMLs in the Archive and also see posts on mismatches and show which indicate that some of the photos simply are not what they are said to be.) to the upcoming EU standards you will notice that the cage sizes and conditions in the MF photos are better than what I was given for the upcoming EU standards. So -- and this is my point -- what were presented by PETA as being from MF and therefore the worst case scenario possible there -- appear to be better than the improvements to be made in the new EU standards -- IF what was given to me are the correct new standards. Remember, too, that U.S. ferret farms either have a vet do the kit surgeries or have TRAINED techs in sanitary (and inspected) facilities WITH A VET PRESENT (according to the refs I could find which could be verified -- i.e. not just rumors). The equipment used is medical equipment. According to people I personally have chosen to trust (and you may differ from me) their translations of the media accounts of the angora farm conviction involved UNtrained personnel, no vet, and Unsanitary conditions. There is also a rumor going around (Use a larger grain of salt until it can be verified or disproven, please) on the equipment used and let's just say that it is a NONmedical thing that is typically used for jewelry repairs, and some electronics work. I, too, have read copies of several letters which multiple people said that they received from ST which blatantly said that he himself would gas the ferrets if he doesn't get a buyer. For us across the pond *** no matter who we are *** this stuff is all very new information to be dissected, verified, mulled over, and then reacted to. It is very troubling, however, esp. taken in conjunction with what the humane group and its vet have said in relation to the current bird case. What LITTLE I have read (and still want to verify) of the upcoming EU standards involves what read to be FAIR requirements which provide the basics for health, and nothing at all outlandish, the sorts of things one would hope were already being done (or done better than) but apparently weren't. That's if the standards forwarded to me are accurate. [Posted in FML issue 4704]