Hello, all. I have a question for all of you and would like some input. I have not kept up with the PetCo thread, so I do not know what the majority of the people on the FML feel about PetCo. PetCo recently replaced both locations of PetCare here in Huntsville, Alabama. Whereas PetCare did not carry ferrets, PetCo obviously does. My partners and I talked it over and decided that it would probably be useless to get PetCo to stop carrying ferrets. We instead decided that if we educated the employees, they might then be able to give customers better information and maybe keep some of these people from making impulse purchases. I spoke to the Manager of one of the stores and he was very open to having us visit and give an after- hours lecture to all of the employees (all employees from both stores, even the employees who were not scheduled to work that day). He even said that it would be possible for us to set up a display table at the store once a month and have a monthly "ferret day". We would get to pass out information and answer any questions that people might have. My initial reaction to seeing a bin containing 25 ferrets with an empty food bowl was to get my picket sign and set up camp outside the store and tell every person within hearing range not to purchase ferrets from these people, but to adopt from us. I asked one of the employees if they received any special training about ferrets, the answer was (of course) "no". If find this rather disturbing that ferrets are treated just as another piece of "merchandise", like a bag of food or litter. This was what finally led me to think that maybe educating the staff would be a good idea. What do you think? If BIG does not want to have this discussed here, then please feel free to email me. Thanks! -Mark Zmyewski Cloud Nine Ferrets Huntsville, Alabama [log in to unmask] p.s. As of now, we are scheduled to give our lecture next Wednesday evening. [Moderator's note: I have no objection to discussing it here. And while I'm writing, I think educating the employees about ferrets is a *super* idea, for many reasons, which I'm sure other readers will cover in more detail than I would here. (And if they don't, maybe I'll post!) BIG] [Posted in FML issue 2511]