WHY DO WE NEED FERRET RESCUES?
Sadly, there are thousands and thousands of domesticated pets in
the United States that are homeless or who are living in unsuitable
conditions. Nearly everyone in the country is familiar with the
SPCA or the Humane Society, and thankfully many people who are looking
for a companion pet go to these services to find one. Generally,
however, people go there looking for a cat or a dog. There are still
many people in the United States that don't know what a ferret is,
and even more people believe that there aren't that many ferrets
in the country and therefore they would never consider looking for
one in an animal shelter.
The sad truth is that there are far too many ferrets that find
themselves without a home. If they make it to a traditional animal
shelter, often they are put to sleep there simply because anyone
that is looking for a ferret doesn't think to check their local
shelters. They remain in them until their time is up, and they are
put to sleep.
Over the past decade or so, ferret shelters and rescues started
popping up in nearly every state in the country. The devoted directors
of these shelters have realized that there are many, many ferrets
that are unwanted and either abandoned or left living in homes with
owners don't really want them. Ferrets were considered a "fad"
pet, especially in the 1980's, and many people rushed out, dropped
$100-$200 for this "cool" pet, then the novelty wore off.
Some people simply lost interest; others didn't realize the committment
needed for a ferret. Whatever the reason, ferrets were in need of
rescuing.
One major difference between ferret shelters and other animal shelters
is that ferret shelters operate as "no-kill" facilities,
meaning that no matter how many ferrets are taken in, none are euthanized
for any reason except for medical necessity in ill pets. Most of
the ferret shelters and rescues have an unwritten reciprocal link
to all other ferret shelters, so that if one has too many ferrets
in its care, ferrets can be transferred to another shelter with
the resources and space to accomodate them.
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