We're back on the pet store issue in the FML again, so I thought I'd share with you how the Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association feels/responds to the pet store issue. In a perfect world, I'd like to see pet stores not sell pets, but just educate about pets and sell pet products. To get a pet, you must go to a private, small scale licenced breeder, or a shelter, and pet stores would refer to them. But don't get me wrong, this isn't a perfect world, and this is never going to happen, because there are large commercial breeders. They have their own business, and I won't really comment on that issue here--but they have the legal right to own that business and sell pets. So, there have to be places for these animals to be sold. That's just a fact. I run a shelter, but I will never tell someone not to buy a ferret from a pet store. The reason is simple. What makes a shelter ferret more deserving of a home than a poor little kit that was born and sent to a pet store? Both need good homes. But to be honest, at least in my shelter, the ferret in the pet store often needs a good home more than the ferrets in my shelter, because every shelter ferret in my rescue (all three branches of the shelter) is treated as our OWN ferret until the day it's adopted out. In the pet store, they won't get such loving care (in most pet stores, anyway). Now I know the other side... if there were no people to buy ferrets in pet stores, there would be no pet store ferrets. Yeah, in an ideal world. But that won't happen, because every day someone new decides they want to buy a ferret, and they don't even know ferret shelters exist. There will always be someone new out there to buy from a pet store. So when you can't make the ideal happen, you need to do the next best thing. Change the bad things that *can* be changed. Let's go on the assumption that large commercial breeders will never go out of business and they will never stop altering at such a young age--I won't discuss that here. So, on that assumption, we need to make sure that all of the ferrets on the planet are cared for. Most shelters are quite good at that, so we need to target two areas: pet stores that sell ferrets, and ferret owners that already own ferrets and aren't caring for them. It's not a small job, but think about it. What are we up to on this list? 3000? I don't recall, but if everyone on this list (not to mention the thousands that know someone on this list) were to go to the three pet stores closest to their homes, with information printed up from ONE source, with a strict education plan rehearsed beforehand, imagine how many more ferrets we might be able to help. If in each of these pet stores there was a flyer hanging with the number of the closest shelter, or tear-off info sheets on web sites and phone numbers, awareness of the places to get information would skyrocket. If the pet stores themselves were more educated about ferrets, what to feed, what litter to use, what toys to give, and even where to refer people when they can't keep their ferrets, we'd make a significant dent. We would not reach every needy ferret. But we'd reach a heck of a lot more than we are already. How many pet stores out there know that there are ferret shelters? How many know what to tell a person when they say they can't keep their ferret? (many pet stores won't take in ferrets that aren't babies). When was the last time you went into a pet store and saw information about local ferret shelters--or any ferret information--on their bulletin board or info rack? There are some that I've been in that have this--but I was the one to provide the info. I've had an idea welling up in my head for months now, on how to get this information dispersed, and to encourage pet stores to do this and make them believe it's *for their own benefit*. I haven't worked out the kinks yet, so I won't go into it here, but if anyone is curious, e-mail me and I'll fill you in. I don't criticize any shelter that opposes pet stores, because I understand why. But this is how the PFRA feels about this, because every ferret, be it a shelter ferret or pet store ferret, is still a ferret and deserves a good, loving home. Kymberlie Becker Barone Director, Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association "Forget Puppy Love...There's nothing Greater than Ferret Love!" TM http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/ferretlady [Posted in FML issue 2222]