I just have to vent a little... My friend and I went to the Renaissance Festival in Michigan yesterday. We came across a area set aside for the Howell Nature Center - Wildlife Rehabilitation Program. The one woman was holding a hawk. In one cage was an opossum. There was another cage with a wiggling towel. We thought it might be a ferret, but in its small bowl were just two grapes. We assumed it must be something else. Then another lady came over and put on some thick leather gloves. Hmmm.... What could it be? She reaches in the cage a pulls out this cute, very well behaved, white/silver ferret. The one thing she got right was that it was a domestic animal... the only domestic animal they have. Then she said it was nocturnal, and that's why it didn't want to come out. Actually it was a cold day, and the poor thing was shivering. She didn't hold it next to herself at all. She held it away from herself with one hand and let people pet its back. One man mentioned he had a ferret, but it bit him. She said so do dogs and cats. He then said it tore through the skin. She asked what he did with it... he gave it away. Her response, "That's too bad. You should have had it killed and tested for rabies." We couldn't take much more, but then noticed that the ferret had lost a lot of hair from its tail. We figured saying anything wouldn't do much good but had to. I first asked if it was a rehab animal, thinking that maybe they were already aware of it. She said no. So I mentioned it was losing a lot of hair from the tail, and that is often a sign of it being sick. She seemed unconcerned, but said, "I'll let them know, but it's probably from the stress of being here." This was only the 2nd day of the festival! I don't think it could lose that much hair in 24 hours. I'm concidering sending them some pamphlets on ferrets since they do educational programs. I would hate for them to continue to pass on the wrong information about these sweet little creatures. They have enough trouble in this society as it is. Thanks for listening, Mary and Dave....and let's not forget Fidget, Jezebel, and Dusty [Posted in FML issue 2038]