ANYONE who has corresponded with me through email and/or read my recents posts about my beloved Sasha or viewed her memorial photos or read my countless FML posts concerning questions about ferret care KNOWS I am NOT an irresponsible ferret parent!! I'm no expert but I'm not an ignorant, dumb, irresponsible pet owner either!!! Whether you choose to like me or dislike me as person is your perrogative but that *should* have no bearing toward my overall petcare knowledge and ferret parenting abilities. My files are overflowing with ferret care information that I compiled on my own or received from vets and ferret owners or found from the countless hours I've spent on the internet researching ferret care and health information throughout the 3+ yrs I've had my furkids! Again I am not an expert by any means but I DO take great pride in providing EXCELLENT care for my furkid(s) and I have TONS of love to give to more of them! So the purpose of all of this is now to ask . . . . . How do ANY of these shelters expect to adopt out ferrets if they treat potential owners like this???? Only (1) of the shelter operators has ever met me in person previously so the others have absolutely NO IDEA how qualified I am (or am not) to care for furkids but they should not be assuming the latter right off, before even giving me the opportunity to explain what I know! As a result of this experience, I have decided that in order to keep Snowy from suffering alone if he does in fact want a companion, I have no other choice than to look for his new buddy in the on-line classifieds section of my local newspaper and on Craigslist.com and at (God-forbid) pet stores. (HUGE GASP!) Despite more than one negative experience with local ferret shelters, I have remained a strong, vocal advocate of shelter adoptions (vs. newspaper classifieds and pet store purchases) - UNTIL NOW. This experience has DEFINITELY changed my mind and opinions about the LOCAL ferret shelters with which I've had pesonal experiences! NOW DON'T MISREAD WHAT I'M SAYING please - I don't believe AT ALL that every shelter operates like those I've encountered locally. And I completely understand that shelters are very understaffed and the operators very overworked with little or no shelter income to offset the rising operational costs - I truly do! But none of that justifies the negativy, rude, condescending behavior, and extremely poor customer service that I or anyone else experiences at a shelter. I WILL continue to support any shelter world-wide (with financial and product donations) who clearly shows by their actions and words that they put the furkids' best interests first (by working in harmony with other shelters) and whose operator(s) and volunteer staff display professionalism, genuine sincerity, compassion, kindess, and - most of all - a genuine love for ferrets and a genuine, sincere desire to help EDUCATE ferret owners, not tear them down! There are MANY, MANY wonderful ferret shelters out there that I have been in contact with and have received outstanding support and help from but unfortunately none are located in Washington (in MY opinion, based on MY personal experiences). Regards, Jennifer and Snowball (heading to *a* pet store for a companion) :-S [Posted in FML issue 5205]