Dear vkwalsh, >Terrible things like this hurt us all, and we need to learn from it. >As for those who defend someone clearly in the wrong, you are doing >so from behind the veil of friendship and /or popularity which in the >grand scheme of things does nothing to prevent further needless deaths. >Please rethink your positions..." In her own way, did you ever think Alexandra Sargent Colburn was trying to convey the same sentiment? Because the first thing I did after shedding a few tears for Ping is He, was double and triple check every door latch and every dog and cat containment area in my home so that the next time my ferrets came out to play they would be safe from another animal having a bad day. I went over house rules with housemembers for doing a dog and cat head count whenever the ferrets were about to be released from the safety of their room, and I placed a few extra pillows under the back of the sofa just in case someone fell off accidentally.etcetera, etcetera.the point being, what I got out of Alexandra's message was a warning that one can never let one's guard down, don't take anything about one's ferret's security for granted. Never did it occur to me to judge, place blame and twist the knife in an already broken heart. I did everything I could do once again to make my ferrets safe, because that is all I can do. If Ping's death has saved just one ferret from something so unimaginable, and Alexandra and Dann's pain put the fear of the Creator in us all then it was well worth her sharing her grief with us. (Since Ping and Puma are so loved as ferret ambassadors, it was right for her to tell us that Ping had died, and of course we would all want to know how-at no point was that a call for the sympathy and understanding that you feel should be denied her). I do not know Alexandra Sargent Colburn, I do not know you, you do not know me. How sad and callous of you to pour salt in their wounds. How presumptuous to think anyone else's ferrets need advocacy at such a cost as losing not only Ping, but now Alexandra, Puma, the family and now other caring ferret folks. It makes me sad to think that now worst thing Allis Chompers ever did wasn't even killing Ping is He. L R Wilson From inside the Ferret Bubble [Posted in FML 6089]