Re: Michael's comment about Mike Royko's column of Tues. 3/22. I'm a member of the GCFA and it was our organization that found it necessary to go through Royko in order to get our voice heard (in behalf of the ferrets) so that folks would know the poor attitudes the ACS has with ferrets. They hold cats and dogs for awhile without euthanizing them, but if a ferret comes into their facility, it's euthanized within hours. There was some sort of rapport at one time between the GCFA and ACS in Chicago, but that changed for whatever reason. The fomer director of the ACS, as I understand it, met briefly with our current GCFA shelter director over the weekend. They passed along info to each other, and we're trying to establish a working relationship again so that any ferret brought into the ACS will be turned over without any hassles to our GCFA ferret shelter. Thanks to Mr. Royko and his beautifully written column, the GCFA had a multitude of phone calls and were thankful to know the situation. The GCFA was never downgrading the ACS in any way - we only requested that all ferrets be turned over to our shelter that specifically deals with ferrets, has vets examine and/or treat them so the ferrets can be adopted out to loving families. Phyllis Berker/Illinois [Posted in FML issue 0777]