Some time ago I wrote about my baby ferrets coming to the Ferret Symposium with me in April. Sadly the cost has proven prohibitive, so they are being sold within Australia instead. The rules have changed since the last couple of years ago when pets used to be able to travel internationally as part of of your luggage, or be flown as freight for a reasonable charge. This is no longer the case with any of the international airline companies. All pets now have to be handled by Pet Transporters and they charge like wounded bulls. Just to bring one ferret with me to St Louis was going to cost well over A$1,000. If I chose to send 6 babies in the one cage, the cost for each would be much reduced. However the size restraints for the cages, the length of the journey and the fact that only one person wanted to order a bub from Oz means that I have had to opt out. I am still looking forward with great excitement to being able to meet so many of you in St Louis (even though it means that I have to hold the aircraft together with my stomach muscles alone all the way). Love & Dooks Shirley [Posted in FML issue 4769]