As you can see from my post about Chere, I cannot seem to forget the idea of finding a way to help the shelters and the needy ferts. A few of us are in conversation looking for ideas, and we'll let you know if we come up with some workable suggestions to bounce off the good minds out there. In the meantime, I'll get on my fund-raising soap box and urge you all to consider the implications of the news you read from the shelter owners. Only Kelleen is really up front about her expenses, but I am learning that many or all of the shelters are run more on love and sacrifice than anything else (except prayer). These people are doing the work they have chosen to do, yes, but in a way they are doing it for all of us who love ferrets. We were all rooting for tle as she battled to save her shelter full of fuzzies with ECE, but I've heard that she still has bills to pay from that. Trish Curtis keeps taking in ferrets with medical problems larger than any adoption fee can cover and her expenses are much higher than expected, but her only regret is that she cannot afford to take in more. Lea Statler is trying to get a new shelter off the ground. I haven't been on the FML long enough to know who all the shelter owners are, and many are probably out there silently. The statistics from the March 96 newsletter from the Ferret Wise shelter (used without your permission, Alicia, because I lost your e-mail address. Sorry!) give you a good idea: an average of $250 is spent on each ferret that comes in for health exams, vaccinations, ear mite treatments, etc. The average stay is 30-60 days (on top of the health care). The average adoption donation is $80. That's a $170 deficit per ferret. I doubt the numbers look much better at any shelter. The people who run these shelters cannot hold high-powered jobs and care for the fuzzies too. Any time they spend fund raising is also time away from their little charges. I know there are some people in the world who are offended by any request for money, no matter what the cause, as if someone were trying to rip them off in some way. I hope most of us have learned the joy of giving to the things that matter to us. Please consider adopting a shelter. Or sponsoring a ferret. Just e-mail some of these wonderful people and ask what you can do. And please look for whatever idea(s) our little think tank may come up with for discussion with the mailing list. [Posted in FML issue 1586]