With all of the postings about shelters being breeders, shelters and private owners selling ferrets, and especially the ranting of Mr. & Mrs. Harper at the GLFA show this past weekend, I thought my opinions were needed. Well, most likely not, but too bad! Way back in 1996, an older couple approached us at a show & was interested in a ferret we were showing & had for adoption. He was a big, 7 month old albino alter bred by ourselves that went by the name of Harry Houdini. He is, I think, the smartest ferret I have ever run across. As a kit of 12 weeks or younger, he used to let himself, his litter mates & all the other ferrets out of their cages in the middle of the night. We would wake up to ferrets all over the house getting into trouble & Harry would just watch us collect everybody! When he looked at you, you could see him thinking & figuring things out. So anyhow, this older couple, the Harpers, kept coming back & talking to us & holding Harry & coming back again. They ended up taking Harry home with them as a companion to their other ferret. Well, weeks go by & we get a phone call. Harry is getting along with their ferret just wonderfully - but he is biting the living hell out of the Harpers! So back to our house he comes. We let him down on the floor to play & he runs over to Mr. Harper & bites him - worse than a normal ferret "drive by" - he actually goes out of his way to bite him on purpose! I was amazed! I asked what they did to reprimand him for biting. Well, a lot of gentle "no, no, no honey", random thuds on the nose, and lots of handling with welding gloves. WELDING GLOVES!?!? They let him bite them when they had the welding gloves on! They told us they hoped we could sell him to somebody else. We told them that as long as he was biting, we couldn't place him. We asked what they wanted & we all agreed upon replacement with another kit when one was available. After thinking about it, I decided that I didn't want these people having one of my kits & returned them their money for Harry. They were not happy & were quite confused, but I felt better knowing another of my ferrets wouldn't be taught to bite. Well, after over a year of handling by many different people, a bite-free, nip-free Harry (which didn't take long since he is SO smart) was offer for adoption at the GLFA FerretQuest on May 16, 1998. Well, again the Harpers were there & Mrs. Harper was very nasty in expressing the fact she thought it wrong for us to have him leave our house! She told many people about it about how bad we were. Bet she didn't tell anybody about the welding gloves. She told us we couldn't offer him for adoption! Well, why not? He would be a rescue in my book! Is she saying no rescue ferret should be placed? Is he not a rescue ferret since I bred him? Am I not considered a shelter because I am a breeder? Why would I not have the option to offer a wonderful ferret to a loving home? I am a breeder & although I do not advertise as a shelter, I have many unwanted ferrets come to my door. We take in ferrets from the local animal control, too. Mostly bitters & throw aways. I think it is "stupid" - as was posted here - for breeders to not care for unwanted ferrets. I agree with the Killians that breeders know more than the average bear about ferrets & their needs (I am not saying that shelters know nothing about ferrets, their care, or needs! I give them much credit for their dedication &compassion!). Being a ferret breeder doesn't mean playing with ferret kits all the time. It means researching health maintenance procedures, behavioral problems, etc. There is a lot of work and many shed tears that go into breeding, raising, and placing ferrets. I think for private individuals that are needing a new home for their ferrets should charge a price for the animals to ensure they don't have "garbage picker" type people taking the ferret because it is free. How many times have we seen posts from people that said "a friend gave me a ferret & I couldn't resist since it was free!"? I may be a fool by thinking this, but I believe it is true! [Posted in FML issue 2312]