Dear FMLers This is just to make sure everyone understands that the raffle that myself and a few other ladies are putting together was not done because someone at the Michigan shelter asked us to do it. We hope very much to raise money to help care for the ferrets already rescued. They already have a heavy financial burden with the animals rescued from Doug's farm, and may have a far greater monetary loss of immense proportions in the future due to this breeder who also appears to be a hoarder. I know that I meant for the money I sent and the gifts offered in the raffle to go towards the care of the ferrets already rescued. I apologize if I was the one who caused any confusion in discussions. About a year ago, a family was finally arrested here. They were breeding dogs in their home..They were found with 55 dogs in their small home. None of them bothered to learn a skill. They sold the dogs on the Internet. The son said to the police that he would kill himself if they took the dogs away...(because it meant he would have to actually get ...gasp...a JOB!) I pass the home on my way to visit my mother. It is all boarded up and condemned. The people would not stop breeding despite warnings, offers of support and help, and the terrible odor. The only thing that stopped these breeder/hoarders was to be put in jail and have their home boarded up and condemned. Hopefully, they will come to understand in prison that what they did was wrong. But when they come out...they will still be people who have chosen to have no skills or education or employment record...This was true, apparently, for the entire family. Apparently, there were lots of beer cans found thrown around in this case also. Hmm. It is one thing to be so blind and stupid and hurt only yourself. (These people were offered advice and help for years, as it has been explained to me.They chose insanity...the actions the same as the year before, and the year before...but expecting different results.) As my grandmother would say...You made your bed. You lay in it. It is another situation entirely, in my opinion, to involve the lives of helpless beings. The burden of an extra 55 animals on the shelter they were taken to almost closed it down. No other animals could be taken in for a year, and they are still in heavy debt despite massive numbers of people calling. All the dogs were adopted out..And the shelter still lost money, as you can imagine. And this was only 55 mostly young animals that did not tear your hands apart. You do not make profit from these huge ferret rescues. Implying that one does is egregious. I have hoped that a group could organize and create an account for any large rescues not related to weather or earthquakes. I have written of this. But I believe that there is just too little money out there for this to be feasible. Saving money...raising money...raising awareness.. for a future large intervention or rescue is something that needs to be thought seriously about and acted on. Easy for me to say, isn't it?. I am glad to see that the Michigan group appears to have been thinking about this. As there is no other group set up for it...with what appears to be a hoarder breeder family still apparently breeding, yet stating that they cannot afford to breed...how could they wisely not try to be proactive? The writing is on the wall. It is in the testaments written. It is seen in the pictures we have observed. It is in the horror of the suffering lives of the ferrets on that plot of land. I think it is fairly safe to say that there will be no happy ending for all. [Posted in FML 5545]