Hi everyone! Little ferret "spotting": in The Paper Chase (about first year law students), Professor Kingsfield asks for volunteers to discuss a case. When no one does, he says "very well. I shall have to ferret you out." Pretty funny. On to more serious matters.... >>Far too minority numbers end up this way, make no mistake of that. >How do you know? You didn't say "it appears" or "we think". You are >stating this as a fact. What is your source? We suspect you haven't >polled the 180,000 new ferret owning households. Have to agree with the Killians on this one. The post they refer to indeed seemed charged emotionally. It is perfectly fine to be passionate about ferrets, but we must not let the passion take over our best judgment. I had to doubt accuracy of the "statistics" by the way they were presented. It certainly is a fact that ferrets will be abandoned. Just as cats, dogs and others are abandoned everyday. However, it is unreasonable in my opinion to blame breeders, as it is also unreasonable to blame pet stores, breeders and even shelters customers for the rate of return/abandonment, whatever that figure may be. To me, this is akin to saying that we have a duty to limit, even regulate, the adquisition of ferrets. That we must educate the public first, and then evaluate the individuals for knowledge and competence before allowing a sale. What next, the issuing of "licenses to ferret" (not in the revenue generating sense, that is)? While aiming at educating the public is commendable idea, everything that follows is certainly not the way to go. Restricting access to ferrets do nothing towards our other goals of presenting ferrets as normal company animals, but would rather foster the idea that ferrets are exotic animals. In my opinion, is is more desirable to allow access to ferrets to all those that desire to puchase one, even if it means that impulse purchases will take place. And if 1, 5, 10% of them end up back in the store or at a shelter, so be it. It is conceivable that the remaining 90% will be adopted by other owners. My own Fudge was over 6 months old when I purchased him at a store. And I certainly am not ashamed of where I purchased him. And yes, the previous owner made a serious mistake: he/she will never know what a great ferret is. His/her loss. Now I haveanother ferret. Yes, I wish I had been able to get another older one, from a shelter for instance. Indeed, I posted several messages on this list to offer to relieve a shelter from one. Unfortunately, there are no shelter in the panhandle area, that I know of. And I looked alright, and I informed the local animal control of my willingness to take on abandoned ferrets. My vet was also told. In the end, I went to the same store that Fudge came from. In a world as depicted in the post, I would have been deprived of my two wonderful ferrets. Others would be too. That just wouldn't do. Enough from me for now... Antonio, Fudge and Poulette. [Posted in FML issue 2219]