First of all, I respectfully and heartily disagree with Kim concerning her recent diatribe against Sandra. The situation in which Sandra found herself was, I'm sure, *not* a common one. Why would you, Kim, lay the blame entirely on her? I'm sorry, but I firmly believe that it is the responsibility of the *parents* to curb their children, whether they are "special needs" types or not. There are too many parents in this world that apparently think that their children can do no wrong, and therefore do not properly discipline said kids. Was this the case in this situation? I don't know. I wasn't there. I think I can say, though, that without having been there yourself, perhaps you shouldn't so harshly judge Sandra. You said some extremely rude and cruel things to her, including questioning whether or not she is fit to be a shelter mom. If we were discussing such incidents happening at her shelter on a regular basis, or even more than once, then sure -- I'd agree. But I think it is inappropriate for you to attack her and question her ability. I think that the fact that she didn't haul off and smack/scream at/shoot/strangle either child (or the parents) speaks well for her. It tells me that she has more patience than I do. Certainly the fact that there were, it appears, THREE casualties (unless I misunderstood something)-- the two babies that had to be put to sleep after this incident, as well as the one that broke its leg -- tells me that *I* would have gone absolutely thermonuclear. Some people are that way about their skin kids; I am that protective of my furkids. I understand that it is extremely difficult to find volunteers. The fact that Sandra never had experienced problems with these kids in the past says that it was probably an isolated incident. I doubt that they are bad kids, or what I would call brats; I think that they probably need, at this point, to be sat down and have the terrible consequences of their actions explained, as well as a good explanation of how to treat animals -- in this case, ferrets especially. As we all know, ferrets are delicate critters, and they require some special handling. I don't think that I personally could allow them back into my shelter, though. Hopefully, we all can learn from this dreadful situation, and act accordingly in the future. -- /\_/\ (>"<) (")_(").:*¬¬*:.ERI.:*¬¬*:. [Posted in FML 6580]