Hello FML'ers Sorry to keep swamping the FML with bad news but I was wondering if anybody out there had come up against a similar problem to this one: Animal shelters that put ferrets to sleep routinely and refuse to call us. As you may remember from a previous message, I am currently president of the Ferret Protection and Welfare Society in Australia. We run a large (it has to be large its the only one) shelter in Victoria for lost and unwanted ferrets. A lot of people bring ferrets to us for homes but many still go to some of the much larger animal shelters like the R.S.P.C.A. Due to legal problems ( I work in the veterinary industry) I will not say which animal shelter here in Vic is causing us problems but it is probably the largest here and has a great number of ferrets brought into it, esp during the breeding season. This animal shelters policy is to put ferrets to sleep as soon as they come thru the door regardless of age, temprement, health or situation. WE have approached the shelter time and time again but it is to no avail, we can have a representative from our group to the shelter within 30 mins any time of the day and have offered to build ferret proof caging and to supply thick gloves and handling equipment but have recieved no reply. What do we do next? Ferrets are still kept for rabbiting purposes here (altho our group has nothing to do with that practice, we are just concerned for the ferrets health) and since the spread of a new disease here to kill the rabbits, ferreters are disgarding thier animals at an alarming rate. Most of these ferrets that culd be found nice loving homes as pets are not given the opportunity as they find their way to this animal shelter and then to that big old ferret cage in the sky. What can we do? What steps can we take to prevent this from happening? Ferrets are recognised as domestic pets in this state so where does the problem lie? How do we approach the situation so that the ferrets come out best and this animal shelter doesn't start killing ferrets for vindictive reasons? Please help, any ideas would be welcome... Email me at : [log in to unmask] On an "unrelated" note I have often heard the RSPCA here in victoria being referred to as the largest animal shelter in the state, which it probably is. It has also been said that the president of this organisation in Victoria is not a great fan of ferrets. I have had a radio interview last year with this man (on national radio) over whether female ferrets could contract hormonal problems if left unmated. He had no proffessional opinion on the matter he just didn't know anything about it and was under the impression that what he didn't know couldn't be true. He cut us off the air with the comment "If thats the case the God must be stupid...". Needless to say we had a record number of jills with aneamia problems last year... I don't know what to do. Between this and the viral problem in the kits I doubt whether there will be any ferrrets left alive in a few year. That makes me feel sick. Thanking you in advance for your help. Michael Curry on behalf of Ferret PAWS.... [Posted in FML issue 1676]