Lynn Burroughs asked about Blazes and ferret show sanctioning bodies: Unfortunately the Blaze ferret and the associated Panda and some forms of mitt do appear to be from the Waardensburg Syndrome. Also associated are patterns of white blotches on the belly and hind knee caps as well as white 'bibs'. There are several breeders who claim that they have pandas that are not deaf while there are others who claim they are either deaf or hard of hearing. I remain unconvinced either way. A few also unfortunate facts are that all ferret show sanctioning bodies do have standards that include blazes, pandas and (non-silver) mitts. These are so popular that it would not work for these organizations to exclude them. So many people would 'boycott' the shows for not allowing their favorite little panda that the shows would not thrive. Another unfortunate occurance is that breeders worked so hard to make these genes widespread enough that it is now hard to find many ferrets with no trace of the genes. Quite a few breeders try so hard to 'not' breed for colors that they dilute the genetic makeup of all their ferrets. Slipping a bit off topic but a good breeder will breed for color - all other good traits such as 'confirmation' (body structure) and temperament must be present in any ferret in a breeding colony. One that is established breeding for color is natural and easy. The major ferret show sanctioning organizations are (in no particular order), FURO, AFA, LIFE and NAFA. Other shows such as the LAFF, GCFA and the Metro show are loosely associated and use standards at least partially derived from work by Vickie McKimmey who also created the LIFE standard. All of these have show standards for Blazes, mitts and pandas. However since judges should take off for defects all deaf pandas and blazes should be docked points if the judge tests them as deaf. This isn't the practice of all judges but could help make the genetic deffective deaf ferrets much less prevalent. WIll it happen? Probably not since most judges are breeders and have their own favorite little deaf panda. I'm glad that someone has the convictions to want to NOT support showing genetically defective ferrets. bill and diane killian zen and the art of ferrets [Posted in FML issue 1282]