Hi, Yesterday I spoke with someone running a shelter/breeding operation out here, quite a large one. (I will refrain from saying who, and will use the the male pronoun as a generic reference reference.) He said a vet will soon be doing tubal ligations on his jills!!! I asked why. He said that at least four people had called asking if he had any way to "calm down", as he put it, their in-season hobs. This is where his idea of tying the tubes of jills arose. Thus, he could provide a service whereby people brought their hobs to mate with these jills, thereby "relaxing" and "relieving the sexual tension" of the hobs. I asked him if he found that his hobs "relaxed" or were less lusty after mating with jills (as my knowledge from talking with a breeder pointed to just the opposite reaction of hobs to mating). He said he didn't know, adding this was a fairly new idea for him. I pushed the question and he admitted that hobs did seem just as lusty after mating as before. He contradicted himself, though, in adding again that mating a rutting hob to a jill may still "relieve tension" for the hobs. That evening I spoke with a well-known vet among us at the fml, who called the practice of tubal ligations "immoral", said that some of the females would die of aplastic anemia, and added that he firmly advocated either breeding or altering. I agree with all three counts. My request is for people to write back their to me about their knowledge ralating to this so that I can give the responses to this person (a way to substantiate the bearing of the information, not assault the person), in hopes of squelching this idea immediately! Please be diplomatic, clear, and factual in your replies, striving to enlighten rather than attack. These will be the most useful replies, and those I can pass on. Please know that your opinions will be respected as such. Additionally, if you chose to post your replies to the FML, and I hope people do, please cc: the replies to my e-mail address, as it will make printing and saving them much easier. Another message related to this follows. Thank you and Sincerely, Lynn Mc. and the Gang of Seven, Hungarian SO Janos, and Russian Blue giant-cat Wellington (15-years young, who tiny runt Minnie adores chasing) [Posted in FML issue 1458]