Yes', I've seen this before. I feel guilty because the first time I saw something like that, it was at the Birmingham, Al zoo during the 80's. Ferrets were on display with "facts" listed on the enclosure such as their diet was mostly eggs, meat and some strange ridiculous things that I can't remember. The information led you to believe that they might be wild animals. They were in a sort of glass enclosure that was connected onto the outside of a building. I don't know if they had heat and air. I was irrate at the misinformation they were giving the public. However, I was a very immature 22 year old and did nothing. Out of guilt, I always told myself that from then on when I see something like that I'd speak up. No matter what sort of animal it is. I came across another situation involving a ferret here about 10 years ago at our local zoo, but with a twist. I had known they had a ferret there, but it wasn't on display as a wild animal or domestic farm animal. He was indoors with other "exotic" pets people gave up and the zoo took in. They used those animals for education, parties, etc. They had close human contact and were cared for more like pets. The ferret seemed healthy and fine, and their information they gave to visitors was dead on, so I never gave another thought about it. We were well acquainted with the head lady that ran the whole zoo, Darde Long. Darde took Chet in as the youngest zoo volunteer ever at age 12 (you have to be 16, but Chet was exceptional). Chet came home after his first day really disappointed in the zoo and in Darde. He told me that the ferret was fed some bizarre low protein kibble and was given a healthy dish of cut up fruit and veggies every single day. They gave the ferret as many grapes as it wanted. So, we ordered a large bag of Totally Ferret and popped in one day to see Miss Darde. I brought Chet along so you he could see how to handle delicate situations. I sat down with the zookeeper, gave her a crash course in ferret nutrition. She was skeptical of what I said at first. Had I not had references from so many in the ferret community to toss her way, I don't know how seriously she would have taken me. She quickly realized that I really knew what I was talking about and so then listened to what I had to say intently. She was genuinely shocked that they could have killed the ferret. She accepted the food and said things would change. Chet kept an eye out on the ferret and they lived up to their word. I'll always wonder if they changed how they cared for the ferret because they "had" to because Chet was there to watch over the little one each day, ya know? But all in all it was a happy and positive experience for us all. Okay I'm going to share something cool with you all about that ferret. You've heard Sukie and I speak about practices in ferret keeping spanning back decades and how ferrets raised on the worse of kibble diets lived long healthy lives at times. Well, I'll take that back, they lived healthy lives much of the time. And I never even saw adrenal or insulinoma until the 90's long after people had drastically improved ferret diet (and other basic care). It's a puzzle that today they are riddled with adrenal and insolinoma despite the best of care. It's particularly ironic (and annoying) to the two of us that some people are obsessed with the food debates here as if they are fanatic religious zealots considering what we know. Anyway, ready for the kicker? That ferret ... raised on crap kibble of all sorts and cut up fruit until it was 9 years of old (before we showed up)... lived to ten years old with no adrenal, no insulinoma ... nuthin. Wolfy [Posted in FML 7122]