Hello all, it's Tiana. I haven't been reading for a while, as i just got back from spending 9 wonderful days with my furries over Thanksgiving break. I was so happy to be able to play with my kids!!! About the 82 furry victims ... I can't write much about this because I'll start crying again (as i was when i read about it) ... but I do want to say that I am utterly horrified, and that it is one of the worst things I have ever heard. In the past I have heard of single ferrets being abused and have always been both disgusted and bewildered -- HOW could anyone hurt one of these beautiful, loving, wonderful little creatures?? -- but to try to kill over a hundred of them in such a horrible, painful way -- I can't even begin to think about it. It is absolutely unfathomable. My heart goes out to all of their poor little souls, as well as to Jean. We have to try to obtain some justice for these babies. Someone posted the phone number for the local police department. In my personal opinion, phone calls will probably be less effective than letters -- jamming up the switchboards might just make the police less willing to help. Does anyone have an address to which we could write requesting help? It sounds to me like this is an incredibly sick individual, and we should do everything in our power to see that he is punished for his acts (although I highly doubt this will happen since I believe that he can only be appropriately punished if he is stabbed and injected with poisons and left screaming to die just as all of those poor darlings were). Now ... deep breath ... okay. I have another reason for posting. When I was home, I went to a pet store to buy litter. This store is part of a rather large chain which sells ferrets -- and they treat them terribly. Small kits are always in an absolutely filthy cage, their food is disgusting, their water bowl continually filled with shavings and litter and I don't even know what else. So of course I am torn between wanting to buy all of the ferrets they have just to get them out of that unhealthy environment, and not wanting to be a consumer at an establishment which does this. I've always hated this situation, but this last visit it seemed worse than ever. My question is this: what can I do to try to change this? Does anyone have experience with this problem? I have this burning need to convince these people to treat the little creatures decently, but I just don't know how to effectively go about it. If anyone has suggestions I would be grateful. Please email me privately. Sorry about the lenth of this post. My candle burns for the 82 ... *Tiana. [Posted in FML issue 2144]