A few days ago I posted: "If all mills like MF were permanently shut down, how would the average person be able to own ferrets? All of the shelter ferrets would eventually die, and from what I've been told, only 1% of ferrets are privately bred, so there wouldn't be enough supply to meet the demand. If we want to be able to own ferrets in the future, then ferret mills are a necessary evil." Well, I've been doing a lot of soul searching and have come to some new conclusions. My revised feelings on ferret mills are as follows. Do I think that they should be shut down? Absolutely not. I think that as far as mill ferrets go that Marshalls are probably the best in as far as they're taken care of, since they've been breeding since 1939. I can completely understand why even if a person does do all of the necessary research as I did, why they may still purchase a kit, versus adopting an adult ferret from a shelter. The reason is a simple one. They may not want to deal with the medical issues that ferrets have any sooner than they have to. I know I didn't. My first ferret Zen came from a filthy local pet store. His owner's chose to sell him instead of locating a shelter when they decided to be rid of him. When I finally was given the okay to adopt him by both of my parents I was told by the manager that Zen was only a year old. Well it turns out that he was really around four. Zen was diagnosed with insulinoma six months after I brought him home and later developed lymphoma. He died six months after his first diagnosis. If I had known that Zen was going to die fifty-four weeks and four days from the day I brought him home would I have still chosen him even with all of his medical issues? In a word, yes. And I would do it all again. Zen meant everything to me. He was the cuddlyist and most gentle ferret that I have ever known. Zen helped me through the trauma of my dad's second heart attack, and with so much more. I'm still grieving Zen's loss even though it's been a little more than a year since he died. Zen is still my heart fuzzy even though he's in Heaven. In this life, the closest way I will ever get to holding my Zen again is by cradling other Marshall ferrets. The nearest ferret shelter is the Oregon Ferret Shelter in Oregon City, Oregon. Unfortunately I live too far away to volunteer easily. If I lived closer I'd volunteer in a heartbeat. So the only way for me to be in contact with Marshall ferrets is by handling the babies at my local PETCO for as long as they'll let me. Do I think that Marshall Farms should decrease the number of kits that they sell to pet stores? Yes, I do. There are tons of ferrets in shelters today. I would have to say that the majority of them will probably never find homes, though I could be wrong. I hate going into PETCO knowing that they've recently gotten in a new shipment of eight-week-olds, when there are several older kits still there needing homes. I was thinking that it would be a good idea for the pet stores to raise their prices on ferrets somewhat to keep people from buying them on a whim. But if they did that, then what would happen to the fuzzies who would languish in the pet stores because the prices were raised? Randie [Posted in FML 6812]