Hello fellow FMLers, I am in no way trying to bash/flame anyone or supress people from voicing their opinions. I just feel I have to defend something that is dear to my heart. This message is directed primarily to Michelle's post and anyone who has questionable feelings towards ferret shelters and their adopting policies. She, as I'm sure many other people do, feel uncomfortable, and if you will, "turned off" by all the personal questions ferret shelters ask before adopting out one of their angels. But please understand, the directors do it only to protect the ferret, who probably has already gone though neglect or abuse, only to wind up in the shelter. Many times these ferrets have special circumstances and certain needs, that only a certain ferret owner can provide, and is a major reason why screening is done in the first place. How many times have people wandered into a pet store, perhaps picking something up for their other pets, and walked by the ferrets for sale. People think they're so adorable and funny and end up buying them on impulse without knowing anything about their basic needs such as feeding a high protein diet and many hours of roam time. So then, since they don't know any better or where else to turn, they ask a sales associate who possibly doesn't know the first thing about ferrets. The new ferret owner, following the pet store's advice, can unknowingly be not giving their new ferret the best home it deserves. A ferret constantly kept in a cage, only handled occasionally can become depressed or phycologically deprived of the attention it needs. This, in turn, can cause behavior problems and the new ferret owner may not want their pet after a few months. So then they wind up at a shelter. Perhaps if pet stores had to conduct screening, or required people to have basic knowledge of their new ferret, there would be very few shelters around. Now, I'm not trying to say pet stores know nothing about these fuzzies. I have come across some OUSTANDING pet stores that handle the ferts on a daily basis, are rather knowlegable about their needs and vet care, and know where to turn to if they don't know the answer. But sadly, these pet stores seem to be few and far between. I have a few MF ferrets, and even though I question some of their policies, I have still bought them. Personally, I feel they are taken entirely too young from their mothers and fixed/decented at too early of an age. But that's an entirely different subject..... The directors ask these questions to protect the ferrets that have already been through too much already. It's for the ferret's benefit. I feel these questions, such as work schedule, dwelling, income, and marital status, are important and necessary. If a person works all the time, how can they give their ferrets any playtime or human interaction. If a person's income is low, and can barely pay rent, pay for the car, and make ends meed, how are they expected to care for a ferret? Initial vet costs for a kit can be rather expensive; I know, I have 6. Can they adequitly be able to finance a yearly examination? Or what about if an emergency comes up, the ferret need life-saving surgury TODAY. The ferret can't wait until the end of the month to see if there's any extra money. How can a person on a low or fixed income meet these demands? Another example, a person is living in a one bedroom apartment. Is there really enough ferret-safe room for the animal to play and investigate? Maybe, maybe not. The reason why marital status is questioned is if the potential owner is married, the shelter would like to talk to the spouse and make sure they're interested in owning a ferret too. Remember, this animal will affect the entire household's life whether they want it to or not. Another wonderful advantage to a shelter is often times, you can get a complete history of the animal. If no medical records have been provided, at least the shelter directors can let the potential owner know about the prior experience the ferret has gone though. And one final note, the shelter directors ARE under, to some degree, scrutiny and have to face questions. If they are not meeting safe conditions for their boarders, someone will find out and they could have to answer more questions. Besides, if they loved the animals dearly, why wouldn't they provide the best possible care? The people interested in adopting often ask questions about the shelter and the lifestyle each ferret lives. These directors must be ready to freely talk about THEIR personal lives and schedules. So, if you'd like to buy a ferret from a pet store, in my eyes there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But just remember, there are many fantastic ferrets desering good homes in our shelters. Besides, shelter adoption fees are more reasonable than pet store prices :-) Thanks for reading this LONG post, Ann Ezra-Let's see how high I can climb this time! Angel-There's got to be another set of keys I can hide.... Aimee-I'm so cute and I know it Koda-Mommy, can I kiss you? Rose-Where did all the trash cans go? Jazzmine-Hey, socks taste pretty good! [Posted in FML issue 2295]