Many years ago, I was in Petco after a bag of ferret food. There was a guy standing by the hexagon-shaped ferret enclosure. He was wearing an NIU T-shirt. (We live fairly close to NIU.) I looked at the little ones, playing in the tank, and struck up a conversation with the university student. "They`re so cute, aren`t they?" I said. He answered back "I`m waiting for them to go on sale. They`re gourmet, you know" I looked at him, thinking he was joking -- but he continued "When they go on sale, I pop for one sometimes, and feed it to my snake" He went on to tell me what kind of snake he had, and how a ferret provided more entertainment than a rat, because ferrets are smarter, and put up more of a fight. He told me he & his friends checked the paper & Craigslist regularly, because they could often get ferrets for cheap -- or even free. (Yes, some of his friends had snakes too -- and he bragged that they could hide them in the dorm or an apartment because they were quiet) I nearly hurled, right there in the store. It was this incident that put us on a completely different path, and led us to where we are today. As of this month, it has been 16 years. Love, Zoo [Posted in FML 8116]