>From: Regina Harrison <[log in to unmask]> >>From: Catherine Shaffer <[log in to unmask]> >>Subject: Ferret population explosion, "abused" ferrets >>There are surely a whole lot of people out there who are mean to their >>animals..... On the other hand, I have seen a tendency for people to very >>quickly assign the title of "abusive" to former ferret homes based on a >>ferret's behavior... Some ferrets are born biters or born skittish ... >Hi Catherine-- >I don't know if this was intended as commentary on Cully's story or not, but I'm very sorry if anyone thought this was a personal attack. This is something that has been knocking around in my head, and I thought I might share these thoughts with the rest of you's. It is indeed an injustice when someone is wrongly charged with a crime. It is also an injustice when animal (or child, or domestic, etc.) abuse is ignored or brushed off because someone in a position to know doesn't want to think about it. Let's not ignore our suspicions, but let's do be suspicious of our suspicions, ya know what I mean? This reminds me of a discussion I read on a bulletin board where a woman posted that she thought her neighbors might be abusing their child because of the constant crying. Because of stupid advice she got on the NET (It may be a handicapped child, some children cry a lot, maybe you should offer to babysit for them, blah blah blah) she did nothing. Another neighbor called Child Protective Services and it turns out the baby was abused. I guess I'm trying to take say, take the idea of abuse seriously. Do what you need to investigate a questionable situation without defaming someone who may be innocent. Sending warm fuzzy thoughts to Cully, Catherine Shaffer [Posted in FML issue 1758]