We are and will continue to remain members of FURO. I'm just trying to put an ubiased assesment to answer a query. It is of course merely my opinion. FURO as a group seems to be in a bit of a decline. John Armshaw in NC is currently president. Fara Shimbo in Colorado was the guiding person for its strongest period. She still does the _Weasel_Help_Quarterly_. In my opinion most of her writing is among the very best in the ferret groups - though I wasn't fond of her whiny assesment of other ferret periodicals. Fara's books, _Reproduction,_Development_&_Inheritance_In_the_FERRET_ (with Mary Maday. the best book on ferret breeding I've come across) and _A_Tao_Full_of_Detours:_The_Behavior_of_the_Domestic_ferret_ (only lay person book on ferret 'pscychology' I've read) are two very good books. Highly recommended. The _Weasel_Help_Quarterly_ is among the best ferret group periodicals - one very annoying editorial which seemed nothing more than sour grapes excluded. The registry is not very complete. With the competing factions in the ferret world there is not a very good registry yet. I and some associates are putting together a registry oriented for the needs of breeders - I'm computerizing an existing card based file. I mentioned that for full disclosure. FURO put out one book containing its registry entries years ago but is extremely late in a promised update. They call it a stud book though it contains any ferret not just males. In the show world FURO appears in its decline. Only one or two shows a year. John talks of rejuvenating it however. The AFA used to use FURO sanctioning but was displeased at some things and has gone out and developed its own sanctioning system. FURO's system is the most complete as far as ferret colors and patterns goes but has other problems. Joining or not depends upon what you want out of a ferret group and your budget for joining groups. We are very complete in what we join. We are now working on local groups out of our area. bill and diane killian zen and the art of ferrets [Posted in FML issue 1437]