Alicia pointed out: >In cases like these outright donations to 501c3 organizations are the >safest & best way to go. > >Alicia Drakiotes, director >www.ferretwise.org YES, and with the recipients being 501 c3 those donations are also tax deductible. If you want to help some of the shelters which are not 501 c3 and still have tax deductible donations you can donate to Support Our Shelters which is 501 c3 and exists to help ferret shelters, primarily by helping with their veterinary bills: http://www.supportourshelters.org/ It has a long and proven track record. In fact, it began here on the FML and you can read about it in the May/June issue of Ferrets Magazine. Another group which began here is the IFC which currently has two subsets to help ferrets and shelters when natural disasters happen. One is ELF (Emergency Relief Fund) and the other is a volunteer group, FERRET (Ferret Emergency Response and Rescue Team). The IFC is also 501 c3 and also has a proven track record. Here is how to find those places: http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.ferretemergency.org/ Of course, there are also shelters themselves, funds at locations which support research such as universities which are helping improve ferret veterinary care. One of those (which can also be read about in the current issue of Ferrets Magazine) is the effort to create a vaccine against ADV, Aleutian Disease Virus. Here is info from a recent post from Danee DeVore (April 20? 21?): >For anyone who wants to help, I will again provide the information for >making donations. For those in the US, money you donate may be tax >deductible - depending on how you file. Checks should be made out to > "The Arch Foundation". On the notations line, write "ADV Research" or > "ADV Fund". Mail the checks to: > Kate Pennick, Research Tech III > Dept. of Pathology -- Room 148 > UGA College of Vet Med > Athens, GA 30602-7388 I am personally curious if any shelters plan to make dark sleeping boxes for those with a lack of space, but don't know if those could be made and sold affordably enough for many list members, including us. If bedding could be hung in them then they could be tall but thin, and for the entrances could have black cloth flaps, or black tubing, or a combination, and would help those whose ferrets are free roam or are out of the cage during the day and need more dark places for sleeping then. If a black tube could provide a slide exit from the top without losing balance of the structure then it could be a toy, too, and would maybe have additional air circulation, but I absolutely stink for being able to visualize structures that actually work once they are tried, so perhaps that would not work, or maybe it would need a flat base to be stable. -- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private posts) Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them: Ferret Health List http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ AFIP Ferret Pathology http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html Miamiferrets http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ International Ferret Congress Critical References http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5239]