I have read Eds posts for many years. I personally cannot say that I have ever seen a post of his that I liked. However, I CAN say that his posts were invariably thought provoking. Controversial, yes, great for causing discussion as well! I would get riled up on many occasions because of his words. However, there have been many ideas I have had that because of his thought provoking commentary that bettered the lives of my ferrets. Did I like the way he put across his views? No. Did I like what he was saying? No. Do I have any love for Ed Lipinski? No, I can't say that I do. Having said which, I am saddened by the people who seem to be thrilling in the fact that he has become ill and his ferrets are now gone. From what I am understanding from Kevins initial post, the only real health issues I could tell were that the females had been in heat for some time. Not that they were malnourished. Not that they had been beaten (biting from lack of handling is much different from the traditional fear biting, which is much harder to work with). Not that they were in some way made brain deficient because they were owned by Ed in the first place. I can't even say that the females being in heat for so long is because of bad husbandry - if he's been sick for a long time, his family may have looked after them basically, but not known the signs of a female in heat, or what they needed to do to fix it. Ed may not believe in raising ferrets the same way that you do. He may not believe in the American way of keeping ferrets indoors all the time, making up warm cozy woolen blankets for them to sleep in. He may not believe in bathing them on a daily basis, or other such niceties. However, he did believe that ferrets are an animal that hasn't changed much physically from their origins. He believed that they needed to be outdoors to get the stimulation their brains and bodies needed. I found that my ferrets were MUCH healthier with regular time outdoors. I found they thrived on being given REAL soil to dig and play in. No, I wouldn't have kept them exactly the same as Ed said he did - on multiple occasions. However, who am I to judge what his decisions were, based on his experiences and studies? When I first got ferrets, I made a lot of assumptions. I was lucky in that most of my assumptions were on the money. Not many people were that lucky, nor that many ferrets. At least Ed - even with his brusque and admittedly unpleasant manner - was trying to do something to help people see past their personal prejudices and to see other ways they can care for their ferrets. Just because you care for your ferrets in the way that you feel is best for their physical and mental well-being, doesn't mean that everyone else - even those on the FML - believe the same. IMO Ed was mainly being the sheer (fill in the blank here) he was, was for the benefit of ferrets. Not that many seemed to be able to see that it was a possibility :( I may not like Ed, but I sincerely hope that he recovers. I also hope that he comes back to the FML to make me angry again. Sam [Posted in FML 6373]