Greetings from the devil's chair! When I woke up this morning I found I had a weird feeling of discomfort from the back of my tail bone and discovered a pitch-forked tail growing from it. In mild shock I grabbed my head only to find two small bumps where I discovered horns were growing. Sigh. It has started again. This is actually my second version of my reply to you as the first one got so long that BIG would have had to post it in at least 3 FML digests and frankly, it got tiresome. As I was composing my 74,000 word reply to you, I finally realized that I was spending too much time defending myself. And considering I am heading into Christmas Party Season, I won't have the time to keep responding to all the wonderful posts I have received. As interesting as this has been, I have to suspend this soap opera for the time being as I have some apologizing to do. I admit that I got emotional where I shouldn't have, but that doesn't mean the questions I brought up to ponder weigh any less heavily on the importance on the lives of ferrets as a whole. So, I apologize to my ferrets and all the other ferrets out there who were getting lost in a no win battle of words. I saw a trailer for a movie that started off with a whole list of famous peoples names in it. They listed Jefferson, Michelangelo, Mozart... you get the picture. The voice over says something to the effect of asking what these rebellious people had in common... (I have only seen it once, so the accuracy is questionable) and then they go into the movie that was being previewed. Can't remember what it was though. But the point is, that the reason that we know these people is because they didn't follow the crowd. They stood out because of their beliefs and that they questioned those things that were thought to be taboo not believing in the old adage, that if ain't broke don't fix it. These history makers had followers that loved them, and those that hated them. But they weren't afraid to be hated because they knew in their hearts, that the issues they fought for, needed to be questioned in order to make the road ahead better for those that followed. I have stood with the underdog on many an issue. I have been bloodied by the hands of those who didn't agree, although I have never raised an angry hand in protest. So, I urge you to reread my posts carefully and not to *interpret* what is being said. You'll see that I was posing questions, and I was relating *experiences*. I gave a hypothesis and I put things into a picture in order to pose more hypothetical questions. I gave some side bar *opinions* and that is all. If you are a good shelter, then, by all means, keep up the good work. If you are a bad one, let's hope that you're getting the message that people aren't going to stand for it much longer. If you are a responsible breeder, then, by all means, do what you feel is in the best interests of your ferrets. If you are a bad breeder, then I hope that you will be exposed for abuses of mistrust you inflict upon the innocent. If you are a caring ferret co-habitator then continue to care for them. If you are an irresponsible one, then I hope that you can learn from the stories posted in this mailing list and make a responsible decision as to the fate of your ferret(s). For those of you who got upset with me and other "questioners" I can only say, "me thinks he doth protests too much". {paraphrased} Looks like the right horn just got a bit longer and a bit sharper. *Ouch* Not quite feeling like herself these days. She-Devil and her Smokin' Hellions of the Underworld. H-i-s-s-s-s-s-s H-i-s-s-s-s-s-s [Posted in FML issue 2524]