With all that's gone on recently it's given me a reason for some quiet reflection. I recall when I first got into ferrets only five years ago and found my first internet group, Frolicking Ferrets. It was a kinder, gentler time. I remember telling my boyfriend after communicating on this group that there is actually a name for the noise that ferrets make. "It's called a dook! Isn't that cute". These people are great,...they give the ferrets nick names like woozles & wuzzles and fuzzys.....and as a new ferret companion, I was learning so much....it was a time before I realized that there were people involved in animal rescue for the wrong reasons... Before I realized that for a select few, it was about self serving egos, politics, gossip, hatefulness and competition. Then I discovered the FML, ...another group of caring, intelligent people with so much information to offer....some know more than these self proclaimed ferret vets do!!! Through the years what would some of us done without Sukie, Julie Fossa and Dr. Bruce Williams?...and our beloved BIG who faithfully provides this avenue for ferret discussion ....daily without interruption....not to mention playing mediator to all the insipidness.... and yeah from time to time I'm guilty of it too... but not unless provoked. Without warning ,or for what I can see ,reason, suddenly my rescue was being attacked...by people who incidentally had never even been to my rescue. People, who for some reason felt that they were the judge & jury of others. If I rolled over, submitted and let it happen, I was deemed guilty as charged. If I defended myself , it just got worse and the innocent bystanders who come here for positive feedback were subject to it also. Words are taken so far out of context and twisted up to mean exactly what the perpetrator of the accusations WANTS to believe instead of what it really is. They think if they continue to badger you with the same questions presented differently that it will produce a different answer. The Spanish Inquisition as I affectionately call it. Through the years, people who I thought were friends, went in different directions, taking up business with the most hateful & sick minds I've ever seen.. I will never understand and I'm not going to waste energy trying. It hurt our raffles & our fundraisers. I am aware that ours is not the only rescue "targeted for destruction". Am I defensive? You bet! But out of respect for our innocent readers I try to do so with a sense of humor/sarcasm...that is just my way. I defend the work we do and these animals to the bitter end but as someone recently pointed out to me , I don't have to. "What???" I thought? That's absurd! Of course I have to! The gut instinct in me tells me to react to defend the lies and false accusations but it never occurred to me that our rescue has such a tight following of supporters that know us, that know the work we do,...and they pay no attention to the mudslinging vermin that possess the intelligence of a garden gnome. Another went on to say and I quote with his permission: It really doesn't - and shouldn't, matter whether you do or don't test for ADV. Or what kind of litter you use. Or if you buy crap food. I think what people are forgetting is - what would be the alternative life for that ferret if he wasn't rescued? If you weren't available to take in an unwanted ferret, where do you suppose he would have ended up? At Paris Hilton's with a first class ADV test eating shrimp cocktail and drinking champagne on a yacht? Jesus.... The very minute we are officially a "rescue/shelter" all of a sudden people come out of the woodwork making judgements and telling us how ferrets should be cared for. If we don't adhere to what others feel is right, give up our money, our social lives and our health, then we aren't doing enough. I hear it constantly and I'm sick of it. It's about damn time people put their money where there mouth is and if they can't take the ferrets in themselves and provide A1+++++++ care, then they need to shut up and let others do the best they can. We are all doing it for the love of ferrets. We all give up what we can in the hopes we provide a better life for them than what they had but damn it, it doesn't mean we are bad or wrong for not meeting other peoples standards. End quote I used to get completely un- nerved at flames....I didn't handle that type of stress very well.... a couple years ago I buried my mother. She passed at a very young 70 years old. It made me realize a lot of things... what mattered, what didn't....plus I grew a set of balls of steel in the process...Dr. Seuss became a philosopher of sorts in my eyes. He summed it up best when he said "Be who you are and say what you feel because those that matter won't mind, and those that mind don't matter." How true that is. Kimberly Fox Director/Rescue Mom Somethin Up My Sleeve Ferret Rescue http://companiontalk.terrabox.com/SUMS-Rescue.html Help The Helpless. SUPPORT PRIVATE RESCUE Pay Pal accepted for donations at this email address. [Posted in FML issue 5379]