Hello! I was compelled to send a message about the "real deal" with Lucy the ferret,and her owner now residing in California. I am the shelter that the ferret was brought to for sitting. Arrangements were made for Lucy (the ferret) to be boarded here without my knowledge. I happily accepted her and gave her the love and attention she needed. The sitting contract was incomplete, she was dropped off on July 10, but no pickup date was written in. There was a verbal pickup date of August 10th. That date came and went. I tried to get in touch with the owners from their Las Vegas number. There was a lot of confusion, but I got in touch with them, and at first they didn't have a pickup date, so I gave them two weeks. Two weeks later they said they would definitely pickup the ferret, but just didn't know when. I said that was fine, as long as they keep in touch and let me know what was going on. Unbeknownst to me, the ferret club AND another shelter took it upon themselves to contact this owner,and try to talk them OUT of taking their ferret back, for various reasons, one being that they are illegal in California. After the second call the owner became perturbed. Rightly so. I do not go online for e-mails very often, but recently when I went on I realized that there was this big debate over a ferret that I am taking care of. WOW! I am so popular! You must understand that I have many ferrets dropped off here by second parties for sitting, and then they are picked up and delivered to their owners. There is no money exchanged. That is fine, but if I have resident ferrets in the shelter waiting for care, I cannot offer a free ferret sitting service. I started that service to supplement our almost non-existant income. Also, when others interfere with business, and although I am non profit, I am still a business, it hurts my reputation. I work very hard to do what I do for the ferrets, and I am very protective of that business because of the ferrets. Lucy will be reunited with her owners, whenever that may be. I offer long and short term boarding, so there is no problem with keeping her here for as long as it takes their owners to straighten out their lives. You try telling a 10-year old girl with tears in her eyes that she cannot have her ferret back. Those of us who are genuinely concerned about the welfare of ferrets must also realize that we are not ferret social workers. We cannot determine who is fit and unfit as a ferret owner, and take ferrets away from those we feel should not own them. There was a time that I fed my ferrets grocery store brand food, and did not have a hammock. I guess I would have been qualified as an unfit owner at that time. We also cannot change every pet store's policies, and expect them to stop selling ferrets altogether. They are a business too, a much larger entity, and they are in it to make money, so they do not care. Now I have to contact the owners again, and apologize for the "harrassment" they have been getting. Please let this letter be official notice that this issue is RESOLVED. I won't be able to sleep at night thinking that my shelter goings-on are an issue on the FML, and that I am not even aware of it! Thank you everyone for your care and concern. To the others, LET ME RUN MY SHELTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Donna L. Carlsen Angel Ferret Shelter, Inc. [Posted in FML issue 2442]